I Just Want To Love You
by RickyandAmy4ever
Summary: Amy fears that Ben will cheat on her, so she runs off to Italy after him, but she gets into trouble and someone has to come and save her. She ends up finding out what she really wants along the way. Ricky/Amy
1. Chapter 1

This is my first fanfiction! I hope you like this chapter, I know not much happens in it but I'll update when I have around 10 reviews! So PLEASE review!

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Amy Juergens stood inside her room with Ben as they looked out the window at the rain that had been pouring down all day. It was the last day that Amy was going to see Ben before he left for Italy. She really wanted to go with him, but Ricky, her parents, and Ashley ended up talking her out of it. Amy wasn't sure that Ben even _wanted_ her to go, and that upset her.

Amy was holding John in her arms, rocking him back and forth as he cried. She knew why he was crying. He wanted Ricky, of course, but it was around eleven at night and she assumed he wouldn't come over that late. She didn't really even want Ben here this late, but since it was the last day she would see him she decided that it would be okay.

"I love you, Amy." Ben said to her desperately, snapping her out of her thoughts that were rambling in her mind. She flinched at how his words sounded.

"Me too." She carelessly replied and didn't feel the need to say it back. "I can't believe that you're going to a different country without me." She continued with hatred and venom in her voice.

"I know, and I do want to take you, but I think it would be best if you stay here with John for the summer. It'll only be a couple of months. Before you know it, I'll be back." He attempted to reassure her but failed. Amy still didn't feel any better.

All she did was nod, but more to herself though, as he wasn't looking at her. Ben noticed she didn't say anything and was caught up in her thoughts. "Amy?"

"Yeah?" She asked. Her voice sounded quiet as she spoke, she was exhausted and the rain was only making her feel more drowsy. She squeezed her eyes tightly closed and then opened them again as she tried to stay awake.

Ben didn't say anything. Instead, he stepped closer to her and put his hand around her cheek and forcefully kissed her. She kissed him back at first, but then she pushed him off of her and her eyes wandered down to the floor. The kiss was too forced, and she didn't feel anything when he kissed her. She wanted it to be romantic, but it definitely was not romantic to her anymore.

She didn't want to hurt his feelings, but there was one thing that was on her mind that really bothered her. "Ben, are you going to Italy just so you can have sex? I know you already said you're not, but for some reason I can't help but think that you are."

He scrunched his eyebrows together and delicately held her by her hand. But she could see fakeness in his eyes when he spoke. "No, I'm not. I wouldn't do that to you. You can trust me. I love you, and I can wait a few years." He rambled on, sounding unsure of himself. "Until we're out of highschool, college even. Until you're ready, if that's ten years.. or twenty years, I'll be fine."

She didn't believe him. She didn't want him to go to Italy, she knew he was going to get himself into trouble. She nodded and bowed her head down as she sat down on the end of her bed and nervously folded her arms together. Ben slightly turned his body to stare at her. He considered sitting down beside her, but he didn't want her to push him away again. Rejection _hurt_.

"Well.." He began, waited for her to look at him. Once she finally did, he continued, "I guess I should be going now. It's really late, and since you don't want me to sleep over.." He paused, hoping for her to change his mind. She looked at him for a brief moment but then shook her head.

Ben nodded and started to walk towards the door. As he stood in the doorway, Amy stopped him. "Ben."

He happily turned his head around to look, knowing there was some chance she would let him stay. Amy rushed over to him and put her hand on his arm and looked at him with serious eyes. "Don't you dare get into trouble."

The smile that was once on his face was now gone and had turned into a frown. "Amy Juergens. How could you not trust me? _I love you_."

"I know you love me." She whispered. "Or at least, I know you think you do. It's getting harder to believe that. I- I just know you're gonna get into trouble. I know something is going to happen in Italy, and I won't even be able to stop it."

Ben promptly looked down at the floor, and Amy began to worry. He closed his eyes and said quietly, "I love you, Amy. Maybe it's a good thing that I'm going away for this summer. Maybe we'll both find something.. find something that will really be good for the both of us."

"What?" She asked. She scrunched her face together and nervously ran her fingers through her hair. "Are- Are you breaking up with me?"

Again, he looked down at the ground and hid his face as he nodded. "Temporarily."

Suddenly everything became overwhelming to Amy. She quickly wiped the tears away that were racing down her cheek. Ben looked up with sad eyes once he heard her cry. She shook her head. "N- No. I- I'm fine, really. Just go."

Ben stood there emotionless. "I love you Amy, I hope we can still be friends." She let out another cry and muttered under her breath for him to get out. She turned around as he begun to walk out, and heard his footsteps while he was leaving.

She didn't understand why he would cheat on her, he said he _loved_ her. She knew the reason he broke up with her was because he couldn't wait anymore. She knew he was jealous, because he thought she had feelings for Ricky.

She couldn't tell herself that, though, because she _did_ have _some_ feelings for Ricky. It was always in the back of her mind, but she was afraid of those feelings. She knew that it was wrong for her to feel that way, and she just wanted them to go away.

She suddenly began to fly out the door to plead with Ben for him to come back. Although he got on her nerves, she still didn't want to lose him. He was her support, her comfort, and when everything came down to the worst, he was _her friend_ and she needed him for that. She needed _someone _for that, especially now.

She flew down the hallway and headed for the kitchen door, then she pulled open the door and kept her head down so she wouldn't get wet from the rain. But she was stopped when she bumped into someone. She looked down at the ground as the rain continued falling down, but finally forced herself to look up, and she flinched when she saw she had bumped into Ricky.


	2. Chapter 2

I hope you like this chapter! The chapters will get longer soon. I'll update soon, I want ten reviews for this! :D

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"Hi." Ricky quietly said to her. Amy stepped behind her off of him and looked away so he wouldn't see she had been crying. He walked inside the house and waited for Amy to come with him. Finally she turned around and walked inside with him.

"What are you doing here so late?" Amy asked, even though she already had an idea why. She figured that he was with Adrian earlier, and he felt bad for not coming over here so he came anyway even though it was this late at night.

"Sorry, _it is_ a little late. I'll leave if you want." He said. He turned his self towards the door and flashed his eyes at Amy and waited for her to say something.

"Uh, no." She stopped him as she ran her fingers through her hair. "You- You don't have to. You can stay for a little while, but my mom isn't here. She's somewhere with David. She won't be back until tomorrow."

"Okay, if it's okay with you." He said. She nodded, and then they both walked into her room together.

Ricky went over to the bassinet to take John out so he could hold him. Amy walked over to her bed and sat down and watched Ricky with John. She smiled at how good he was with John, and how calm John was when he was around.

"I saw Ben leaving." Ricky said casually. "He looked a little upset. Everything okay?"

Amy sighed quietly to herself as she looked down at the carpet. She restlessly fumbled with the bracelet that was around her wrist, and she gritted her teeth together. "No, not really. I mean, everything is fine. It's just- Ben.. he.." She took a deep breath. "He- he _kind of_ broke up with me. He said maybe we would both find something this summer that would be really good for the two of us, whatever that's supposed to mean."

She couldn't understand why she suddenly opened up to him so much. She knew she probably shouldn't have told him, but for what ever it's worth, she needed _someone_ to talk to about the situation. Someone she could trust, although Ricky most likely wasn't the most reliable person she could've told.

"Oh." He muttered. "I wouldn't worry about him, there's better people to worry about."

Amy pressed her lips together and she scrunched her eyebrows up. Ricky ignored her and continued, "He's no good for you. You should just forget about him. So," he quickly changed the subject as he saw the hurt expression on her face, "When does he leave?"

"He'll board a plane for Italy some time early this morning." She quickly answered him, showing no emotion, but then she looked at the clock and saw it was one in the morning. She hadn't realized how much time had passed.

"You know why he's going there, right?" Ricky suddenly asked as he raised one eyebrow.

"Yeah, I know." She sighed. "I know exactly why he's going there. He said he isn't going there for _that_, but he was acting really weird tonight when we were talking about it. I know he was lying, I could see it in his eyes. It kind of makes me mad that he would lie to me, but there isn't anything I can do about it. He won't let me go with him."

"Good." He replied. "You don't need to go there. You have a son, we have a son. And you can't just go to Italy without asking me. So you're staying here. It doesn't matter that Ben might cheat on you there, he's going to do whatever he wants and you're just gonna have to let him. You can't come between him and this, because if you do, then he's never really going to love you the way you want him to. You just have to let it be. It is what it is. No one's perfect. Just let him go, Amy. Let the guy go without a word, he deserves it. He deserves the adventure. He needs to get away, just like you do, but you can't because you have responsibilites."

"He deserves it?" She asked him angrily. "No he doesn't! He doesn't deserve anything. I just know he'll cheat on me, and I don't know what I'll do if he does! I deserve to get away more than he does. So what if I have responsibilities? I could take John with me."

"You can't just take a two and half month old baby with you all the way to another country! Just don't do anything." He continued. "If he cheats on you, then he isn't that great anyway. Maybe he's right, maybe both of you will find something that'll be good this summer. I don't know what that is, but you might. So for the sake of both of you, let him go. Ben _really_ needs to get away. This will be good for him."

Amy suddenly had a wave of jealousy, hurt, and fear flash through her. Ricky had put a thought in her head. Who says that she couldn't try and stop Ben? She ignored everything Ricky had said, and she smiled smugly when she had an idea. _A bad idea._ She knew she was crazy for thinking of something like this, but she wanted to get away.

And she didn't care what everyone else said, she wanted to do this for herself. She didn't know _how_she was going to do it. And she didn't know when, but somehow she was going to go to Italy after Ben. Maybe she too could find adventure, that's what she really wanted.

She just _had_ to stop him from making a huge mistake. She had to do this for herself and for Ben and for their relationship, for their future together. Everything was already bad enough in Amy's life, she didn't want anything else to happen. She had to hold onto Ben, she couldn't lose him. She didn't know how she would get by her mom, but she was gone now. Chances are she wouldn't get back until early in the morning, and then she goes to work, and then she might go back over to David's.

"Ricky, I think it's time you should leave. I'm really tired, and I suddenly have a lot on my mind. I just want to think about something, okay? I'll.. I'll talk to you later." She said quickly as she stood up immediently and gestured for Ricky to leave.

He nodded. "Okay, I'll see you later Amy." He put John back into his bassinet and walked out the door. She listened quietly as she heard the click of the door being shut. Amy frantically took a deep breath. She thought about this plan for a while, and decided she wouldn't do it, but then decided again that she needed to do this.

She knew and fully understood how much trouble she would get into, but she didn't care. She was tired of being cooped up all the time at home and work. She was an adult, and she was going to do what she wanted to do despite what her family and Ricky and Ben said.

She picked up her phone and dialed the number for the airport and asked when they answered, "At what time does the plane leave for Bologna, Italy?"

"Four in the morning and another plane will leave tomorrow at six in the morning." They told her. She nodded as she took in the information.

"Okay, thank you." She hung up the phone and quickly threw it on her bed. She pondered for a while whether she was going to do this or not. Would Ben think she was overprotective if she followed him to Italy?

She shook her head and mumbled to herself, "It doesn't matter what he'll think. You need to do this." She would leave tomorrow morning. She had enough money for both her and John to get on the plane, but that was all the money she had earned from her job. She quickly ran into her closet and pulled out a suitcase and tossed it onto her bed. She unzipped it, and threw all her clothes and John's clothes in and his diapers, baby food, and everything else she could find that she thought they would needed.

Then she threw the suitcase on the floor and wiped the sweat that was on her forehead. Several times she thought about unpacking the suitcase and forgetting about this whole crazy scheme, but a little voice inside her head kept telling her not to.

She needed change, something new and different to happen in her life. She was tired of living the same day over and over. This wasn't just about Ben, it was also about herself. If she stays here, she thought she wouldn't find out what Ben was talking about, about 'finding something good' for herself. Maybe if she went to Italy, she could find that. She _needed_ that.

Her heart was pounding in her chest, and adrenaline was pumping through her veins. She began to feel dizzy, and she lay down on the bed so her head would stop spinning. She had made up her mind. "I'm going to Italy." She whispered to herself. "I am going to Italy."


	3. Chapter 3

This chapter is written in Amy's POV (POINT OF VIEW). A lot of you said you didn't want Amy to go to Italy.. but that's kind of what the story's about right now. I hope you like it anyway and I hope you keep reading! Please review and I'll update soon! Also, thank you everyone for all the positive reviews! I really appreciate it! =D

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I woke up with my forehead drenched in sweat, and my heart was racing. I quickly wiped the sweat away and tried to forget my dream. I dreamed that I was in Italy, and Ben was with another girl. It was exactly what I feared, and I didn't want my dream to come true, but I had a feeling it would unless I stopped it.

I pulled my self up off the bed and looked at the clock; it was eleven thirty. I was surprised I had slept so late, but I needed the rest. I hadn't slept that much in a long time. I wondered why John hadn't woken me up crying, like he usually did.

I walked over to John's bassinet and smiled to myself when I saw him smiling up at me. I picked him up and held him in my arms as I gently rocked him back and forth. "Hey John." I cooed. "I bet you wanna go to Italy too, don't you? It'll definitely be good for the two of us to get away." I frowned and continued, "Although I'm kind of worried about Ben.."

I carried John into the kitchen and quickly fed him, and then was startled when I saw my mother suddenly walking through the kitchen door. "Well, Hi Mom."

"Hi, Amy. Is everything okay? I'm sorry. I hope you were fine here with John." She apologized. She set her purse down on the counter and looked over at me. She looked exhausted, but I could understand that because I've been through it. I knew exactly how it felt to be that tired and _pregnant_. At least i didn't have to go through it three times, though.

"Don't worry about it, Mom." I smiled to her, pretending to be in a good mood. "We were _absolutely_ fine. So, you're not going back to work are you? Have you even been to work at all this morning, or were you just over at David's? I wouldn't know, you don't really tell me anything."

"I w_as_ at David's, and now I'm about to go to work. I just came home to see how you were, how John was, and if you needed help with anything. I just wanted to make sure that everything was okay. Now that I see everything _is_ okay, I'll be leaving." She said. I smiled at her akwardly as I watched my mother walk towards the kitchen door and wave before she left.

"Okay, that was weird." I said to myself. I was about to walk back into my room with John, but then I heard the door open behind me again. I turned around to look, and I saw Ricky quickly walking inside the house and not bothering to knock on the door.

Hey Ricky." I said as I took in a deep breath. In response, Ricky smiled at me. He walked over to John and me and smiled at his son that lay, for once, happily in my arms. I then handed John to Ricky, and he smiled as he took him from me.

I frantically glanced over at the clock again. It was one o' clock. Ricky started to walk into my room with John, and I came in soon after with him. I stood in the doorway and smiled a small smile. I didn't feel good about hiding this from Ricky. He already said he didn't want me and John to go all the way to Italy, but this is something that I just _have_ to do. And I am going to do whatever I have to do, we all have to do whatever we have to do. I learnt _that_ from Ricky.

I wasn't even sure how I was going to find Ben. I'm sure Italy was a _huge _place, but I'll have to find out somehow. He said he would be in a hotel, if I remember correctly. It can't be that hard to find him, how many hotels could there be in one place?

Ricky looked over at me standing in the doorway and asked, "So, where's your mom?"

"She _said_ she's at work, but I think she's with David somewhere or something. She hasn't been home much the past few days. I don't really know what's going on with her, but I guess it's not really any of my business. She won't tell me anything." I told him as I leaned against the door and folded my arms together over my chest.

He simply nodded but didn't say much for a while. John eventually fell asleep in his arms, so he put him back in his bassinet so he could sleep. Then Ricky went over to sit in the chair that was in my room as he stared at John, and after a few minutes I sat on my bed across from him.

I could hear my heart loudly and quickly pumping in my chest, and I had a terrible, anxious feeling in the pit of my stomach. Sweat was building up on my forehead, and I soon felt lightheaded. I wiped my hand across my forehead and let out a deep breath. I contemplated telling Ricky that I was going to Italy with John, but then I decided against it.

I knew that I probably _should_ tell him since John is his son and he should know where his son is, but I couldn't risk Ricky getting in the way of me going. He would try and stop me, and then he would end up hating me after I still go anyway.

"You're doing the right thing, Amy." Ricky suddenly said, and I flinched as he pulled me out of my thoughts. I stared at him with a blank expression on my face and didn't say anything. He nodded as he said, "You really are."

I looked down at my bare feet and pressed my lips lightly together before I opened my mouth again to speak, and there was now a smile on my face. It was a smug, self satisfied smile. "Yeah, I know I am." I knew I was doing the right thing, although there was a voice inside of me that was telling me it was a bad idea, but I just ignored that voice because I hoped that something good was going to come out of this.

Ricky had a questioning look on his face, but he let it go and smiled along with me. Ricky stayed over until six o' clock. He helped me with John and helped me cook dinner for us, and he also helped me with feeding John, and then he left after dinner and said he had to go and would be back tomorrow. I gulped when he said that, because he would come back here to an empty house, or with just my mom, and John and I would both be gone.

I lay in my bed with John lying across from me, and I looked down at my phone when I felt it vibrate. I picked it up and looked at the caller id, and it was my mom. I held the phone in my hand for a few seconds and drew in a deep breath before answering. "Hello?"

"Hey Amy. I hope you'll be okay by yourself, but there's somewhere I have to go. I'll be back in a couple of days. Will you be okay? You could stay with George and Ashley if you can't take care of John by yourself. I'm sorry, I-"

"No." I interrupted. "We are fine here by ourselves! Really, you don't have to worry. I- I'll see you in a couple of- couple of d-days. Bye Mom, I love you." I pressed the end button and hung up the phone. I threw it back down on the bed. I was hyperventilated, so I concentrated on taking slow, deep breaths.

I picked up the suitcase that was lying on the floor and tossed it back on the bed, and I let myself fall back onto it as I stared up at the ceiling. My eyes became blurred as tears filled my eyes. I wiped away the tears and squeezed my eyes shut and fell asleep.

I woke up and instantly noticed how dark it was. I sighed and forced myself to stand up, and I walked over to the window and looked out; it was pitch-black dark. I looked up at the clock that was in my room; it was two in the morning. I couldn't believe I had been sleeping for eight hours. I went into my closet and pulled out a small bag and filled it with anything that I could find that I thought would be useful.

I put that bag inside my suitcase so I wouldn't lose it. I picked up John from his bassinet and held him tightly. I quietly whispered to him, with tears in my eyes. "It's just you and me, John. I hope we're doing the right thing. You'll like Italy, I'm sure you will. I will keep you safe I promise. I won't let anything happen to you. I just- I just know that this will be a good thing. We both need a break from.. from life right now, don't we?"

I put John back into his bed and said to him, "I'll be right back," and I walked into the kitchen. I opened one of the cabinets and found a piece of paper and a pen. I put the paper down on the counter and thought about what I should write. I finally, after a few minutes, forced myself to press the pen down to the paper and write, "_Mom, I know you will never forgive me for this, but I am going"_ I scrathed that out and sighed and began to write again, "_Mom, I just want you to know"_

"No." I frustratingly muttered to myself, as I scratched out the words again that I had written. I restlessly tapped the pen on the paper and drummed my fingers against the table, and began to write again, "_Mom, I will be getting on a plane this morning to Italy. I need to get away and so does John. And I have to go after Ben. I know he's going to get into trouble, and I have to stop it. I want you to know how sorry I am, I understand how much trouble I will be in, and I will happily take whatever punishment you choose to give me when I get back. I know you will never understand my reasons for doing this, but I have to. I have to do this for myself, for Ben, and for John. Please understand. I love you._

_-Amy"_

I put down the pen on the counter beside the note. I looked around, and I saw Mom's wallet on the table. I nervously fumbled with it for a moment and managed to open it. I took out all the money that she had in there- eight hundred dollars. I didn't know she had this much money just lying around in her wallet, but I guess it's a good thing.

I now had a total of two thousand dollars. My dad gave me some money a while ago that I still haven't spent, and I had saved up some money from working, and the rest is my mom's money. I felt bad for taking it, but it's her fault for having this much money lying out where anyone could take it.

I crammed the money in my pocket and went into my room and said to John, "I'm back, John." Then I walked over to my bed and picked up my phone and dialed a number and listened to it ring four times before there was an answer. "Hello?"

"Hi Adrian. It- It's Amy." I nervously said to her.

"Amy? Um, why are you calling me? Is everything okay?" She asked, sounding confused.

"Everything is fine, Adrian, but I need you to do me a favor. I.. you.. you- you can't tell anyone though! Promise me that you will not tell anyone about this! I'm going to Italy, and I need you to drive me to the airport." I didn't really trust Adrian, but I couldn't think of anyone better that would or could drive me.

There was a long pause on the phone. "You- you need _me_ to drive you to the airport? Why don't you ask _Ricky_ or someone?"

"Because Ricky doesn't want me to go, and that's exactly why I asked you. Because you want me to go, right? So Ricky and I won't be here alone without Ben for the summer.. or atleast for a little while anyway. I'm not sure how long I'll be there, but please Adrian? I really, _really_ need to go. I- I have to stop Ben. I have to stop him, he's going to do something there and-"

"Okay, I'll drive you, even though it's really late. Or, well, it's really early." She interrupted. "But I'll be at your house in ten minutes, okay?"

"Thank you, Adrian! Thank you so much. This means a lot to me, it really does." I thanked her, as I breathed a sigh of relief. I hung up the phone and put it, along with the money that was in my pocket, in my suitcase so I wouldn't lose it.

I picked up John again and grasped him firmly in my arms. I pulled out the handle on the suitcase, and then I lifted the bassinet while putting John in it, and I carried everything in the living room and set it down beside the door.

I sat down on the couch and waited for Adrian. I looked up at the clock, it was forty five minutes past four, so I had around an hour before the plane left. It would take twenty minutes to get to the airport, and then all I would have to do is get on the plane.

After ten minutes, there was a knock on the door. I got up and went to answer it and standing there was Adrian. "Thank you for doing this." I thanked her again. I picked up John along with his bassinet and wheeled the suitcase outside in the darkness as we got into her car.

I looked down at John as we pulled out of my driveway and whispered soothingly to him, "Everything will be fine, John." I squeezed my eyes shut and nervously crossed my fingers. My legs were shaking and my heart was beating out of control while I tried calming myself down by repeatedly whisperering to myself, 'everything will be fine.' I suddenly realized I would be completely by myself until I _hopefully_ found Ben. I would be alone with a three month baby in a strange place that I've never been before with people I don't know. A lot of them probably can't even speak English very well. It was just John and me, and he was counting on me. I had to protect him. I couldn't let _anything_ happen to him.


	4. Chapter 4

So I hope you like this chapter. I want ten reviews before I post the next chapter :) So please review!  
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When Adrian dropped me off at the airport, it was five thirty, so I had thirty minutes before the plane would leave. I tried my best to ignore all the dirty looks everyone was giving me because I had a baby with me.

I paid for our tickets, and then I went to sit down with John to wait until it was time to go. I quickly fed him since I wouldn't be able to when we were on the plane. Then we went through airport security, and they took my stuff that wasn't allowed onboard.

We got in line and got ready to get on the plane, and then we sat down somewhere near the back.

I've only been on an airplane once, not including now, in my whole life a long time ago with my mom and Ashley. It was a lot more terrifying now that I had John with me, so I had to worry about him, and I was afraid I would get lost somewhere and be stuck in Italy. Maybe I would call Ben and ask where exactly he was, but I didn't want him to know I would be in Italy, atleast not yet anyway.

I wondered what my mother would think once she read the note. Would she call me, or would she come here after me? I doubt she'll come all the way to Italy, but I was still anxious thinking about what she would do.

John started crying as soon as the plane took off, and everyone stared at me. "Sh, it's okay John." I soothingly whispered to him as I tried to calm him down. I shut my eyes tightly and leaned back and tried to ignore his crying. After a while, he stopped crying, and I finally fell asleep.

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"Hey Ricky, can I come over? I still haven't seen your new apartment yet." Adrian asked. It's been an hour since she dropped Amy off at the airport, and she was now at her house in her room sitting on the bed and decided to call Ricky.

"It's kind of early. Since when do you call me at six thirty in the morning?" He asked.

Adrian rolled her eyes and lyed back on her bed. "Since now, I guess. Since you got your own apartment, so the time doesn't really matter anymore. And I assumed you were awake anyway, and if you weren't then I would just wake you up."

"Yeah well I'm busy right now." He replied scornfully.

"Oh?" Adrian raised one eyebrow. "You're busy? Are you with John right now? Or Amy and John? Or are you with _just_ Amy?" She asked him jealously. She didn't like Ricky hanging around Amy all the time. She wanted Ricky to be with _her_ more.

"No, Adrian, I'm not with anyone. But I'm going over to Amy's later to see if she'll let me bring John over here, since he is _my_ son too and he's never been over here before." Ricky told her.

"Well, don't bother going over there. Amy's not home." Adrian said with a smirk on her face.

"_She isn't home_?" Ricky asked. "Well where is she, and how would you know? Since when do you know what Amy's doing? Did she tell you or somethin', or are you just making this up so I won't go over there?"

"She might have told me." Adrian said, playing hard to get. "What's it to you?"

"Um, if Amy isn't home, then she must be somewhere with John, and I need to know where my son is." Ricky said sternly.

Adrian couldn't decide whether to tell him or not. Amy made her promise not to tell anyone, but Adrian told Ricky almost everything when it came to secrets. She let out a deep breath and replied, "They're probably on a plane right now."

There was a brief pause on the phone before he said anything. "They're.. _on a plane?_ Why would they be on a plane? Where are they going? And how would you know about this? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I'm telling you now, aren't I? And I know about it because Amy called me and asked me to take her to the airport. She told me not to tell anyone, but I told you, so I guess that's what she gets for being irresponsible." Adrian said smugly. She chuckled and heard someone walking through the front door. She supposed it was her mom.

"What! Dammit, Adrian, how could you do this? Is she going to _Italy_? I told her not to! She can't just take my son off to another part of the world and not tell me about it!" Ricky yelled fiercely and angrily over the phone.

"Hey I'm sorry! But she said she something like she needed to stop Ben from doing something, and now she'll be gone for a while so you and Amy won't be here alone without Ben for the summer!"

"Adrian?" Her mom called from the living room. Adrian got off the bed and quickly opened the door and walked into there with her. She was in the kitchen doing something, probably just getting back from a flight. Maybe she knew something about Amy.

"I'm on the phone." She whispered to her. But then she decided to ask her, "Hey, do you know anything about Amy and John.. they should be on a plane right now going to Bologna, Italy."

"What? No. I haven't heard anything about them. Why would she be going to Italy with a three month old baby?" She asked her, sounding surprised.

"I don't know, it's something about Ben." She told her. Ricky was saying something on the phone, so she walked back into her room and shut the door. She walked over to her bed and sat down again.

"Sorry. What, Ricky?" She asked, but didn't wait for him to answer. "You're not gonna go to Italy after her, are you?"

"Huh?" Ricky asked, confused. "No, I'm not going to Italy. Don't be stupid; you know I can't do that. I am gonna call her, though, not that she's going to listen to me. She doesn't really listen to anyone." He paused. "Look, Adrian, I'll talk to you later. I need to go. Bye."

"Wait!" Adrian stopped him before he could hang up the phone. She didn't want him to call Amy and talk to her. Ricky never had enough time for her, and it upset her because John and Amy were always going to come before her.

"Fine, I'm waiting, but hurry up. What do you want?"

She drew in a deep breath, then said quietly, "You aren't gonna call her now, are you? I don't think cell phones are allowed on planes, and if they are do you really think she'd want to talk to you? Why don't you just leave her alone?"

"No, I'm not calling her now. I'm gonna wait until the plane lands, which should be sometime late this afternoon, right? Then I'll call her. God, I can't believe she went off to Italy!" He began, and he suddenly raised his voice loudly and violently as he became angry again, "And I can't believe you drove her to the airport! That was real smart, Adrian! You should have told me, so I could have tried and stopped her! If you think just because she's in Italy, that I'm going to stay away from her, then you're wrong. So I'm just gonna stay away from you for now. My son is in another country right now with Amy all alone! She doesn't know her way around there! I don't know what she's gonna do. So she'll be off doing hell knows what, and it's all _your_ fault! So I hope you're happy! All you ever do is get in the middle of everything, so for once, couldn't you just stay out! You have _really _messed up this time!" And then the phone line went dead. Adrian sighed and hung up the phone as tears starting building up in her eyes and she thought to herself, "_Why is _everything_ always _my_ fault?"_

_______

I suddenly was jolted awake as I heard the loud plane getting ready to land. I looked out the window and saw the airport below us. The sun was shining brightly across the sky, and not a single cloud could be found. The city was filled with huge, ancient looking buildings, churches, sculptures, and cobblestone streets that were filled with people roaming around. I could also see the oldest university, which was one of the things this city was known for.

The plane began to draw closer down to the ground as we landed. When we got off the plane, John and I followed two women that were with three children to the luggage pick up area to get our luggage. I got my suitcase, and I pulled out the handle and wheeled it around while I held John in my arms as I wandered around.

I kept walking along a path that was between a bunch of huge buildings, that almost looked like castles they were so big on the left and right of me as I watched everyone wandering around, children playing in the fountain, and people riding their bikes around the street. It was loud here, filled with people happily chattering. This city was beautiful, and I was instantly glad that I came here. Everyone seemed so happy, and it made me happy, although it would be great if I could find Ben.

A woman came up to me and asked, "Sei perso?" She looked about thirty, and she had long, brown hair that swept across her face and reached all the way down to her back, and she had bright, large bronze colored eyes. Her voice was quiet as she spoke, and she had an italian accent.

I scrunched my face up and nervously ran my fingers through my hair, and then I said, "I'm sorry, what?" I knew it was pointless talking to her, because she most likely couldn't speak and understand English, but I had to try.

She smiled at me with warm, calm eyes, and she chuckled for a brief second and said, "You are lost?" So she did speak English. I closed my eyes for a moment and took in a deep and satisfying breath as I was thankful someone could understand me here.

"I'm not really lost, I just don't know where I am," I explained. "I'm trying to find my boyfriend. He's somewhere in a hotel here, but there's probably a _lot_ of hotels here in Bologna, so I don't really know where I'm going."

She laughed again. I didn't know why, because I didn't think what I said was that funny. I flashed a dirty look at her, but at once I regretted it, but she didn't seem to notice. She pulled the hair out of her eyes and stated "We have many hotels here."

"Great." I muttered, mostly to myself. "Well thank you. I- I have to go." She stared at me for a long time with curious eyes, but then I quickly walked off and rolled the suitcase down a different path. I turned left down a road and looked up at the clock tower that was between two other buildings. There was another fountain in the middle of the road and more people surrounding the streets.

The sky that was once clear was now filled with a few clouds and one large storm cloud, but the sun was still shining just as bright, so it didn't look like it would rain any time soon. I _needed_ to find a hotel so I could check out a room, but I hadn't noticed any yet. Hopefully I had enough money to pay for a hotel room.

I suddenly saw something that made me wish I hadn't seen it, and I wished I hadn't gone down this road. Standing there about fifty or more feet away from me was Ben. He was _kissing_ an italian girl with dark, brown hair. Tears built up in my eyes and I was filled with anguish and grief.

Ben was going into the building with her that he was standing under. I thought about running over to him, but I didn't want him to know I was here right now, and I didn't think I could control myself if I was around him right now.

I instantly regretted coming here and seeing Ben. This whole idea was crazy, and it's going to end up getting me into a _lot_ of trouble real soon. But I couldn't let Ben get out of my sight. I had to keep a watch on him, because I was lost here all by myself and John. He was the only one I knew.

I ran up to the building and I hid behind a cart that was five feet away from the door. I looked through the glass window, and Ben and _that girl_ were talking to someone, but I couldn't see who from where they were standing.

"_How could you?"_ I quietly and scornfully whispered. He's only been here for one day, and he's already found someone to cheat on me with! I couldn't believe that he lied to me. I already had had a feeling that he would do this, but I didn't expect it to hurt this bad.

I heard a vibrating noise coming from my suitcase. I put John down behind me and unzipped the suitcase and took out my phone that was ringing. It was Ricky calling. I closed my eyes and nervously breathed out and pressed the _talk_ button as I slowly opened my eyes again. "Hello?"

"Amy?" He asked. I nodded to myself and waited for him to continue. "You- I can't believe you would do this.." He stuttered slowly like he wasn't sure of what to say.

"I know, Ricky." I said quietly into the phone. My voice cracked once I spoke, and I quickly wiped the tears away from my eyes. "I'm sorry. I had to do this. Ben- I.. I saw him. And he's already found another girl, and he- he was _kissing_ her." I cried.

I heard him take a deep breath on the phone, but he didn't say anything. So I continued, "Please don't be mad at me." Again, I wiped the tears from my eyes and forced myself to smile, because even though one bad thing happened here, it was actually worth it. Italy was _enticing_ and _fascinating._ "It's so beautiful here, Ricky. It really is."

He still didn't say anything. I looked down at the ground and then pulled John closer to me and held onto him so no one would take him. "You're really mad at me, aren't you? Has my mom come home yet?"

He sighed. "I _am_ mad at you, Amy. I am _very_ mad at you. But not just because you went to Italy even though everyone was telling you not to, but because.. I'm jealous of you. I'm jealous because you can take John wherever you want and _whenever_ you want, but I can't even take him over to my house for the day or take him to the nursery without you getting upset about it. And no, your mom hasn't come home yet or I'm sure she would've called me after she called you if you didn't answer or I would've at least heard about it. I went over there earlier after Adrian told me you got her to drive you to the airport, and no one was there. God, I can't _believe_ you did this! Your mom is gonna be so mad at you."

I pressed my lips together and narrowed my eyes in shock. "Ricky, I- I'm sorry. You can take him to the nursery whenever you want, and you can take him over to your apartment when we get back. I'm sorry." I told him. I was so upset that it didn't even seem like a big deal to me anymore.

"Thank you." He muttered. "And I forgive you, but I still can't believe you did this."

"I had to do it. I just _had_ to. This was exactly what I was afraid of, though! Coming to Italy and seeing Ben with another girl! And now what I fear has come true, and now I have to stop him from making a huge mistake. I'm following him around right now, but he still hasn't seen me though. I don't know if I want him to see me just yet."

"So, you're gonna spy on him?" Ricky asked.

"I guess. But I just want to watch him right now and see where he goes and find out what hotel he's in. He's the only one I know here, besides John of course, and I don't want to get lost so I need to keep up with where he goes."

I listened for a few seconds and waited, but Ricky didn't say anything so I continued, "I thought you said you weren't mad at me anymore."

He sighed again and scornfully and viciously exclaimed, "I said I forgive you, I didn't say I wasn't mad at you! What you did was absurd and foolish and you will be in _so_ much trouble when you get back. If you even get back."

"Excuse me?" I asked as I suddenly felt a wave of anger, "_If_ I get back? I know I'm gonna be in a lot of trouble, but like I said I had to do this! I had to do this for myself and for John and for Ben! I just- I- I had to get away! I couldn't take it anymore being cooped up at home all the time! I told my mom I was going, and she still said no, so I had to run off to Italy. I left her a note, so it's not like I'm here in secret or anything!"

"Whatever, Amy!" He yelled, "I just hope you have fun in Italy! You have fun, because you will _never_ take my son off to another country like this again! It- It's insane that you would even think of running of to Italy, and it's dangerous! John could get hurt, and so could you! You don't know your way around Italy!"

"You can't tell me what I can do and where I can take John! He's _my_ son, too! And it isn't dangerous, John and I are in no danger! I told you I'm following Ben, so I'm not lost right now! Sure I don't know my way around, but I'll be fine. And so will John!"

"Right." He began, "Do you even have any money? How did you afford to pay for plane tickets? What are you gonna do?" He asked, his voice still sounding angry and upset, but I didn't blame him although I wish he wouldn't yell.

"I took some money from my mom, and the rest was money I earned from my job! I have a job, remember? I still have some money left, so maybe I can afford a hotel room. Look, Ricky, _please_ when my mom finds out, don't let her do anything stupid! Don't let her come after me or anything ridiculous like that. Help her understand."

"What?" He asked. "No! I won't help her understand, because I don't even understand! And I wouldn't worry about her coming after you, she isn't gonna come all the way to Italy! Some people have some common sense, unlike you." And then the phone went dead.

I groaned and hung up the phone. I looked at the time; it was 7:30. I didn't realize I had been here that long, but it was just beginning to get dark. I put my cell phone back into my suitcase, and then I put John back into my arms and tightly held him. I looked back into the window, and Ben was _still_ talking. When I looked back up, I saw two strange, violent-looking men smiling down at me.


	5. Chapter 5

Here's chapter five! I don't speak Italian, so I dont know if the italian is right or not lol! I just translated it from some website. Anyway please review! Lol.

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I looked away from the two men that were standing in front of me. They both looked around twenty five or thirty. One guy had long, dark hair that went all the way down to his neck, and the other one had short hair that was spiked up. I hoped they weren't looking at me, although I knew they were. I pretended I hadn't seen them, and I stared down at the ground.

I heard one of them laugh and say, "Ciao Beh, perché siete soli?" I forced myself to look up off the ground, but I didn't look directly at them. I tightened my grip around John and folded my arms across my chest.

They laughed again and walked closer to me and said, "Siete soli. Si deve tornare a casa con noi. È adatta a." I backed up as far as I could from where I was sitting under the cart outside of the store Ben had went in.

They must've realized I didn't speak Italian, because one of them spoke in English when he said, "Come with us." He looked at the other guy and they both angrily chanted together, "Come with us."

I turned around and hid John behind me, pressing him tightly against me and the building we were leaning against. I squeezed my eyes shut and turned myself away from them. But then I heard Ben talking as he walked out of the door, and I hid my face between my legs so he wouldn't see me.

As I heard his voice start to fade away, I quickly snapped my head up. The two men were gone. I breathed a sigh of relief and stood up, keeping my eyes on Ben. I slowly walked as I tried to keep up behind him so I could find out where he was staying. There was a single path that lead two ways that was inbetween cafés and restaurants where we were walking across.

I frantically looked around myself to make sure they weren't right behind me. Ben was still walking with that girl, and her arm was around his waist. I walked faster so I wouldn't lose them, but I made sure that he didn't see me. They turned right and walked down a long, concrete path. I looked up and could see more towers and the sun peaking up over the clouds.

I ignored the loud noise of people chattering, because the main noise I could hear right now was the sound of the blood pounding in my head as my heartbeat raced. We passed more buildings and sculptures, and then we walked past the university.

When we reached the end of the path, we went down a different road that opened into the main city square Piazza Maggiore overlooked by a tall clock tower. We went under the clock tower and passed someone who waved to us on his bike.

We had reached a dead end road. They walked towards a large building that I assumed to be the hotel they were staying at. The hotel was between a restaurant and the clock tower that overlooked the entire city that was followed with houses and stores. It didn't look like a hotel, though. It was much larger then any other hotel I've ever seen before, and there was a gate at the main entrance that you had to go through.

Ben and _her_ went inside the gate and I waited until they were halfway to the entrance of the hotel before I went inside. I walked up to the tall, black gate and pushed on it, and it opened. I walked along the concrete paved road and examined the hotel. It was ancient, like most things were here, and it was was made out of red brick stone, but the color of it had faded over time. It was tall, and it looked to be about six or seven stories high.

I hurried and went inside and entered the hotel plaza. It was crowded, but I eventually found Ben and caught up to him, but still I stayed far enough back so he wouldn't see me. I groaned silently when they went into the elevator. I ran to the front desk and asked, "Do you know what room Ben Boykevich is staying in?"

She looked at me confusingly and said, "Non capisco." and I suddenly regretted not learning Italian as my second language.

I let out a quiet sigh and said clearly, "Ben Boykevich." She seemed to catch on. She nodded and looked at something at her desk and laughed. Then she said, "Trenta Quattro. Terzo Pavimento. "

"Grazie." I thanked her, wishing I would have learned more phrases. Thank you was all I could really remember how to say except for Hello and Goodbye.

I walked away from the front desk and walked over to a random man that I heard speaking English. "Excuse me, but can you tell me what 'Trenta Quattro. Terzo Pavimento' means?" I said, hoping that I had remembered it correctly.

"Yes, that means Number Thirty Four, Fourth Floor." He said as he nodded to himself.

"C- Can you help me get a room? I can't speak Italian." I said nervously. I ran my fingers through my hair and bit my lip as I waited for him to respond. I didn't feel right talking to a stranger about helping me get a room, but I really had no choice right now.

"Yes." He replied. I followed him back to the desk and he said something in Italian. I opened up my suitcase and took out my money and handed it to her once he told me how much it was.

I smiled and thanked him as I raced off to the elevator. I pressed the buttons and waited for it to take me there. I leaned back against the wall of the elevator and tried steadying my breathing as I could feel myself hyperventilating. The door opened and I got out and searched for my hotel room which was on the same floor as Ben's- number forty eight.

"Alright John, we're at our temporary home." I told him. I walked over to the bed and set my suitcase down on it. I opened my suitcase and pulled out a knife that I packed for opening John's babyfood with, then I put it in my pocket. I took the key to my room out of my other pocket and locked the door as I left the room. I got down on my knees and hid when I saw Ben walking out of his room. Once I was out of sight, I quickly ran after him and followed where he was going.

We walked all the way out of the hotel and headed down the road that entered into the main city square, which was _always_ crowded and filled with people wandering the street. It was around nine or ten at night, and it was pitch black dark outside, but the glow from the moon and the streetlights were enough light so we could see. I heard Ben laugh as he and _that_ girl walked towards the fountain which had a scuplture in the center of it, and it was surrounding people who were jumping in it. I managed to hear what Ben said, "Maria, I'm not really good in big crowds like this." So her name was Maria.

They both sat down on the edge of the fountain, and I made sure to get out of the way where Ben wouldn't see me. I stood directly behind them and the fountain, and I saw them talking, but I could no longer hear what they were saying from all the noise.

I heard snickering and laughing coming from the dark alley which was behind me. I turned around and saw those same two men. I gasped and quickly turned my head back around. Ben looked behind him, and I, not thinking, ran quickly into the dark alley. I didn't see them anymore, but I had a feeling that they were still close by. The alley was closed in tightly, with only a few feet for me to move, and it was closed in by two huge, brick wall buildings.

I heard them behind me again and heard one say, "Don't worry, baby, we don't want to hurt you." I ran faster, but I was slowed down by the water puddles I had to walk through. It was what seemed to be an endless street, and I was worried about what would happen when I came to a dead end in the alley.

Tears were starting to pour down my cheeks, and I wiped them away as I kept running as fast as I possibly could. But then I reached a dead end. The only way over it was a tall fence, but there was no way I could climb that, especially while I had John with me. But I had to make an attempt. I cried out in fear and pain, and I put my foot on the fence and pulled myself up using only one hand. I quickly climbed it as fast as I could, but the men were getting closer. I heard more laughing behind me and I yelled out again once they started to climb the fence. They were now only five feet behind me.

I climbed faster with all my strength, but they were faster and stronger than me. They were getting closer. Finally, I had reached the end of the fence. I swung my leg over the top of it, and then I swung over the other one. I began to climb down, but then he grabbed me. He had his hand gripped tightly around my wrists. "Don't be so difficult." He chuckled.

"Le- Let me go." I stuttered, but I couldn't keep my voice from cracking so I didn't think he heard me. I looked down at the ground, and I was atleast twenty feet high. The only thing I thought of to do was to reach in my pocket and pull out my phone. I nervously fumbled with it for a few seconds in my hand as I dialed the quickest number that I thought of.

There was no answer. The only thing I could do was leave a voicemail, but I didn't know how I would do it without them hearing and probably killing me. Tears were now strolling down my cheeks faster. I pressed the phone to my ear and hesitated before I cried into the phone, trying my best to keep my voice steady so it would be clear on the phone. "RICKY, HELP ME!"

I didn't know who else to call. I knew he couldn't help me since he was all the way in a different country right now, but he was the only one I could think of to call. The guy knocked my phone down to the ground and started to pull himself over the fence.

"NO!" I cried, pleading with him. "Please stop!"

"Who'd you call? Who's Ricky?" The guy yelled at me. I shrugged my shoulders and couldn't say anything, and he slapped me. "Tell me who Ricky is!"

"I- I don't know." I cried. He grunted angrily and grabbed me by my waist and pulled me down to the ground and all three of us came falling. I tried holding John up into the air when we fell so he wouldn't get hurt. The guy landed on top of me, and I yelled out in pain when I landed on a tree limb. John was crying and screaming, but there was nothing I could do for him. He was completely helpless, and so was I. I tried with all my strength to push him off of me, but he had me pinned me down by my wrists.

Then I remembered I had the knife in my pocket. I quickly struggled and finally managed to pull the knife out of my pocket. I couldn't see him, but I aimed for his face and cut him. It didn't do much good, but it made him get off of me. I drew back my arm and then released it and cut him deep in his neck. I ran away as fast as I could, but I could hear him coming behind me. "John, I love you! I won't let him hurt you!" I cried.

I couldn't see where I was going because it was too dark, but I bumped into a tree and I quickly fell down beside it. I hugged my knees into my chest and held John between my knees and the rest of my body, and I prayed to God that he didn't find me here. I heard him run past me, and I quickly raced off to a river that I found. I pulled my body down into the freezing cold water, holding John up where his feet were barely touching it, and I walked further out until I got into deeper water. I swam to a bay that was on the other side of the river, and I hid under it.

I held onto the top of it with one hand, and I kept my head low so that way my breathing wasn't so loud. My whole body was trembling from the cold and from fear. John was still crying, but it was a quiet, desperate cry. It was like he knew that if he made noise we would be found and get hurt.

_______

Ricky stood in the doorway of his new apartment as he just got home from Adrian's house. He nonchalantly walked over to the bed and sat down. He had his own apartment, he was so overwhelmed and happy that he didn't know what to do.

He pulled out his phone out of his pocket and saw he had a missed call. "From Amy?" Ricky asked his self. He called the number for the voicemail and pressed the button to listen to the message, and he gasped out in horror at what he heard.

"Ricky, help me!" He heard Amy's piercing and crying voice yell over the phone. He heard a loud noise, and then heard Amy yell out again, "No! Please stop!" Her voice sounded further away in the distance now, and he heard a deep, unfamiliar voice, "Who'd you call? Who's Ricky? Tell me who Ricky is!" He could hear Amy crying louder over the phone. "I- I don't know." He listened for a while and heard the man yell out like he was in pain from something, but then he couldn't hear anything else. He stayed on the phone for five more minutes before the line finally went dead.

Ricky sat motionless on the bed with the phone in his hand. He didn't know what to do. Amy was in danger. _His son _was in danger. He threw the phone down on the floor, and tears started running down his face. He angrily kicked the side of the bed and yelled to himself, "What am I gonna do!"

He didn't want to believe that Amy was alone right this very moment in the dark fighting for her life and for John's life. If John was even still alive. He didn't want to think that way, but he couldn't help but think the worst possible thing.

He knew he couldn't go to Italy, but he knew he couldn't stay here either and just let it happen. Amy and John _were_ in trouble, or else she wouldn't have called him. He had to do something about it. He had to call someone, maybe Ben, so he could help her. But then he remembered that Ben didn't take his cell phone with him.

He wondered if Ben had even seen her yet, or if Ben was with her right now.

Without thinking, he picked up his phone and dialed back the number to call Amy. The phone rang six times, but there was no answer, so he decided to leave a voicemail. "Amy, are you okay? Of course you aren't okay. I- I- just don't worry, I- I'll save you. I'm coming." No one could help Amy and John. There was _nothing_ else Ricky knew of that he could do. He frantically paced around his apartment and racked his brain for something he could do to help her or someone that he knew that could help, but nothing was coming to him.

He couldn't help but picture Amy sitting in a corner with John, crying her eyes out as she fought for her life. He didn't like imagining her that way, and he didn't want to have to see it either. He knew there was only _one_ thing he could do. Only one thing he could do that would save both of their lives. And _he_ had to do it. Amy called _him_, and there was no one else that could save her. He suddenly picked up his phone from the floor and dialed a number.

There was an answer, and he didn't wait for them to speak, he quickly yelled into the phone ,"Hello? I need a plane ticket for Bologna, Italy tonight! I have to get on board _tonight_ and I need to be there as soon as possible, it's an emergency."

He didn't want to go to Italy, but this was the only thing he could do, as crazy as it was. He was not about to let Amy and his son die because she went off to stop her boyfriend from cheating on her. That would be a terrible way to die. _Being murdered._

"Well, a plane will leave at one in the morning, but the ticket prices will be _crazy_ if you want to get onboard that early." She explained. One in the morning- that was an hour away from now. He needed to be there sooner.

"I don't care. Whatever the price, I'll pay it! I just need a plane ticket, and I need to be on the plane as soon as possible." He quickly hung up the phone, not wasting any time.

He ran around to search for a piece of paper and a pen and quickly jotted down, "_Adrian, Amy and John are in trouble. I've gone to Italy to save them. Whenever Amy's mom gets back, tell her we've all gone to Italy."_

"No." He said to himself. He didn't want to make everyone worry. He scratched it out and wrote again, "_Adrian, I've gone to Italy. But it's not what you think. It's an emergency.  
-Ricky"  
_

He knew Adrian would be over at his apartment soon, and she would find the note. Ricky took a deep breath as he tried to slow his heartbeat that was beating out of control. He left the note on the counter, and he quickly took out his wallet and stuffed it into his pocket. He put his keys on the counter and ran out of his apartment, not locking the door.

He ran out into the night and got into his car and drove to the airport. He couldn't believe he was going to Italy. He couldn't believe Amy had gotten into this much trouble. But he had to save her and John. He didn't know what he would do if he lost the both of them.

A few times he started to turn back and go home, but he couldn't seem to make himself do that. He hoped he would get there before it was too late. He knew how hard it would be to find them, but he had to try.

As he arrived at the airport, he quickly ran in and paid for the plane ticket and got ready to get onboard. First he had to go through airport security to make sure he didn't have anything that wasn't allowed on the plane.

He wasn't worried about anything else except Amy and John and saving their lives. Nothing else was important to him at this moment. He didn't care anymore about how mad Amy's mom would be at her and him, and how mad everyone else would be, he only cared about rescuing them.

Everyone lined up and got on the airplane, and Ricky sat in the back and looked out the window at the moon and whispered, "Please be alright wherever you are." He wiped away the tears that were running down his cheek, and he laid back in the seat and somehow he managed to fall asleep.


	6. Chapter 6

Sorry it took me so long to write the next chapter. Anyway, I hope you like chapter 6. Please review! 10 reviews before I update.  
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I woke up and looked around as I heard a motor running. I was in a pickup truck. John and I were in the back seat of the truck, and I was tied down by a rope. I looked out the window and saw the sun barely peeking out of the clouds. I estimated it was around six or seven o'clock in the morning.

My heart was pounding loudly in my chest, and my forehead was drenched with sweat because it was nearly one hundred degrees in here, but also because I was terrified. I held my breath for a moment and listened closely when I heard them talking.

"We'll drop her off, and then we'll go back there and look for the phone. We can not let anyone find out where she is." I heard a deep voice say. I was surprised that he was speaking English. I could hardly even recognize the Italian accent in his voice anymore.

"That isn't such a good idea, Chris. What if she escapes?" I heard the other guy ask _Chris_.

"She can't escape. We will tie her up, you idiot." Chris replied. I took a deep breath and struggled as I tried to sit up. I saw him look back at me, and I quickly pretended I was sleeping. I tried again to turn myself around to face them, but I couldn't. So I had to listen very closely to what they were saying in case it was important, that way I could try to flee from whatever awful place they were taking me to.

I managed to grab John and pull him closer to me. I gasped when I realized that they had drugged him. I squeezed my eyes tightly to stop the tears from falling, and I covered my face so I couldn't be heard. "John." I whispered quietly and fearfully.

Suddenly the truck pulled to a stop at a drugstore. Chris and the other guy both got out and he yelled to me with a small, evil smile on his face, "Stay here!" And then they both slammed their doors and locked up the truck.

I immediately tried to untie myself from the rope. My hands and arms were both tied together, so it was hard for me to move. I finally found the knot that was in the rope, but it was too tight, and I couldn't untie it.

I looked out the window, and I yelled to the first person I saw. "Hey!" She looked at me and ran over to the truck when she saw I was tied up. She had short brown hair that barely reached to her shoulders, and she looked around twenty years old.

"Oh my god! Are you okay?" She asked me sympathetically through the window with her Italian accent.

I shook my head and said, "No. I- I'm not okay." I struggled and pulled my hands over to the door and unrolled the window, but it would only roll down half way. Even if I wanted to escape, there was no way that I could, because I couldn't fit through the window.

I didn't know what to do. Without thinking, I said, "Pl- Please take him. Don't let anyone hurt him, please." I cried. I pulled John near the window, and she reached through and took him into her arms. I didn't trust her, she was a stranger, but I didn't know what else to do. If John went with me, then he would be hurt or killed. I had to do this, it was the only way he would live.

She nodded, but then the two guys came out of the drugstore. She quickly walked off, leaving me here alone until they reached the truck. I didn't know what they would do to me once they noticed John was gone, but they didn't say anything about it.

I heard the doors slam again as they got back into the truck. I heard the engine roar back to life before we drove off and were on the road again. I figured that they drugged me too when I was in the woods, because I felt exhausted like I could fall back asleep any second. I couldn't do that, though. I had to stay awake so I could listen to their conversation, in case they say something that would help me figure out a way to escape.

I couldn't hear what they were saying, because there was a loud train running across the track. After what seemed like to be an hour, the truck was stopped again and parked beside a tree.

"You tie her up, Mike. I'll go find the phone." Chris yelled to the other guy, who I now knew was named _Mike_. They must not be from Italy, or they aren't using their real names, because neither of them had Italian names.

Mike opened my door and grabbed me tightly and threw me across his arms. He carried me into a three-story building that I assumed to be where he lived, but it was so big that I couldn't imagine that he lived there.

There was a gate that led up to the doorway followed by a stone walk way with a tall, dark fence surrounding the entire house, and once he took me inside, I saw something so _despicable_ that I could actually feel my heart skip a beat.

They had rooms all over the house that were filled with other girls that looked like they were drugged and abused. They looked _horrible,_ and I wasn't even sure that some of them were alive when I saw them. I was carried up to the second story of the house, and _Mike_ opened the door to one of the rooms and tossed me down unto the bed. The room was small, and the walls were made out of brick, which was solid black.

He grabbed my hands and pinned me down when I tried to fight him off. He then tied my hands to the bed and slammed and locked the door as he walked out while I lay there screaming for help, although I knew no one could help me.

________

Ricky opened his eyes as he awoke. He glanced out the window of the plane and saw it was beginning to land at the airport. He stretched his arms and sighed nervously as he stood up, waiting to get off the plane.

Once he reached solid ground, he stood there motionless, not knowing what to do and where to go. He had no luggage with him, all he brought was his money. He was in much too big of a hurry to pack anything.

He walked quickly down the paved, concrete street of the city square and looked around the crowded city. It was nine o'clock in the morning, and the sun was hidden behind huge, clouds. It looked like there was a storm coming.

He looked up at the huge and tall buildings that were about 150 feet tall which were surrounding the city on both sides, and there was a fountain in between. He turned right down the other side of the street and walked more quickly. He picked up his phone and dialed Amy's number, although he figured she didn't have her phone with her where ever she was.

He let the phone ring five times before it went to the voicemail. He groaned silently and hung up, shoving his phone back into his pocket. He muttered to himself, "God. Where are you, Amy?" He didn't know where to go. He had to fight to hold back the tears when he thought of where John and Amy could be and how much they were probably being tortured.

Ricky felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. He took it back out and looked at the caller ID- Amy. He drew in a quick breath as he hesitated answering the phone. Was it actually Amy calling him, or was this a trick? Either way, he decided to go ahead and answer. His voice cracked when he spoke with apprehension in his voice. "Hello?"

"Hello." A deep voice replied. Ricky could hear the smugness in his voice when he talked, which made a chill run down his spine. He walked slower across the street in which he was walking, and he looked around frantically at the people who were walking by him.

"Where's Amy?" Ricky asked at once, not knowing what else to say. He pressed the phone more tightly to his ear so he could hear over the loud noise.

"I don't know an Amy." The low voice replied again, which was soon followed by a laugh.

Ricky scowled and nervously wrapped one arm around his chest. He then yelled angrily with hatred in his voice, "Yeah you do! I heard you on the voicemail yesterday, so where is she? Where's Amy and John? If you hurt them-"

"And what makes you think I would _ever_ hurt someone?" He answered innocently, but fakeness showed through his voice.

Ricky wasn't convinced. His heart started pounding rapidly as he became more angry. "Just leave them alone! Let 'em go, or I'll call the police! I swear to God if you-"

"Hey, shut up!" The voice interrupted him, yelling angrily. "If you call the police, that will be completely pointless, because they will never find her. So go ahead! It isn't going to do you or her any good!"

"What do you want from her? And what do you want from an innocent baby?" Ricky exclaimed, holding back his tears. He walked towards a bench that was in the corner of a cafe, and he sat down.

"The baby's gone," was his sole reply.

Ricky put his face into his hands as he squeezed his eyes shut and he shook his head. He angrily kicked the bench and looked down at the ground. "What do you mean, '_The baby's gone?_'"

"_The baby is not with us anymore._" He said slowly. Ricky gasped and tears starting running down his cheeks, and he looked up at the sky. He hoped that he hadn't _killed_ John, and that he didn't mean it that way.

The guy laughed and continued, "It's your fault for letting your little girl friend go to a country like this. I'm sure you know what it's known for, and if you don't then I feel bad for you. I will not let her go until she is sold, but we never know, she might be one of the unlucky ones who don't make it."

Ricky gasped again. They were going to sell Amy for sex. "She isn't my girlfriend, and don't you touch her! You are _sick_, how could you torture someone like that? Just let her go! I will find you and I'll kill-"

"There's _nothing_ you can do about it. If you come looking for her, I will make sure that you both die." He replied, and with that the phone went dead.

Ricky threw the phone back into his pocket and stood up from where he was sitting on the bench. He looked straight ahead, and standing about one hundred feet away from him was Ben, and he was with a girl. The same girl Amy had seen- _Maria_.

Ricky wanted to run over to him, but he couldn't do that because it was too crowded. He slowly walked towards Ben, passing by people who were surrounding him. He was twenty feet away from Ben, but he still wasn't looking his way.

Ricky stood still and stared at him for a few seconds and then shouted, "Ben!" But he still didn't look at him. He couldn't hear him because of all the noise that was going on outside. Ricky ran until he reached him, and he ran right into him and muttered, "Ben."

He stepped a few feet behind him and watched as he widened his eyes with a bewildered look on his face. It took him a moment before he could say anything. He scrunched his face together and finally spoke slowly, "Ricky? What.. are you doing here?"

Ricky folded his arms together and stood there motionless and didn't reply. Ben looked slightly worried and he asked, "What's wrong? What are you doing here? Is.. Is everything alright?"

Ricky sighed and yelled furiously, but with pain in his voice, "No, Ben, everything is not alright. Thanks to you, Amy flew here a few days ago. She was worried you would cheat on her, and she said she needed to get away. And you _did_ cheat on her. So Amy called me last night and left a voicemail telling me to help her. Don't be jealous, though, she didn't call you because you didn't take your phone. Anyway, she seemed like she was in danger, so this morning I flew to Italy to save her. She- She's been taken by some guy, where they're gonna abuse her and sell her for sex if they don't kill her before they get the chance to. And there's nothin' me or you or_ anyone_ can do about it! I have no idea where she is! I've never been to Italy before. Oh yeah, and I don't even know where John is! They said he was gone, and he wasn't 'with us' anymore. I don't know if that means he.. he was killed or not. This is all your fault. I hope you're glad you finally got what you want from some girl you just met. Now you've lost Amy, and I've lost her, and I've lost my son! And I don't know what to do! I don't think there's anything I _can_ do."

Ricky broke down crying and buried his face into his hands. Ben stood there, his mouth wide opened, and he wiped the tear away that was forming in his eye. They both stood there staring at each other for a minute before Ben finally said, "You're right. This is my fault. I didn't know she would come to Italy. We- We can find her. I- I know we can, we can't just give up!"

Ricky shook his head and said through his tears, but simultaneously he was still angry. "Dammit! There is no _we_, Ben. You can't do anything to help her. And neither can I, but I'm gonna keep trying. I don't need you." Ricky shouted to him, but then he had an idea, which gave him a small amount of hope. He pulled out his cell phone from his pocket. "Listen to this voicemail and tell me if this guy sounds familiar to you. If not, maybe the police can help us or somethin'. They told me not to call the police, but I don't know what else to do."

Ben nodded, and Ricky handed the phone to him after he called the number for his voicemail. Ben and Ricky both kept a straight, distressed look on their face.

Ricky watched Ben closely as he watched for his reaction. Amy's screaming over the voicemail was so loud that even Ricky could hear it. He simply looked away when he heard, not wanting to look Ben straight in the face.

Ben gasped once he heard Amy yelling. He became lightheaded and fell down to the ground, throwing the phone at Ricky, and he caught it. Ricky groaned and grabbed Ben by the arm and pulled him up.

"It isn't going to help Amy or John if you pass out." Ricky brutally told him. Once Ben was back on his feet again, he nodded apologetically.

"I'm sorry. I don't like it when Amy's in pain." Ben said, his voice was lifeless and his eyes wandered frantically around the city as he couldn't keep his glance on Ricky.

"And all of this happened because of you. Why would you cheat on her? Now she's _really_ gonna be upset once she knows you slept with-" He looked over at Maria. "Whoever she is." Ricky almost laughed, but then kept a straight face again once he remembered the situation and had the thought in his mind that they would never find her.

"What makes you think I slept with her?" Ben asked. Ricky just stared at him, and Ben sighed. "It's just really hard. I do love Amy very much, but she has a baby. And every time I try to be a father to John, Amy just pushes me away. I know you're his father. I never can be. And- and it's so hard knowing that he's _your_s and _Amy's_. I guess you two are always going to be tied together with this baby. You have something with Amy that I never can have."

Ricky looked down at the ground, hiding his frown, but he was curious when Ben said that last sentence. "You could have a baby with Amy."

Ben smiled agreeingly and held a serious face as he said, "That isn't what I meant. I mean that you two have a special kind of.. bond. I can't ever have that." Ricky looked down at the ground again, and Ben continued, "He will be fine wherever he is. And so will Amy. We just can't give up. We'll find them. I- I hope." Ben said, but he sounded doubtful when he said it.

Ricky rolled his eyes, suddenly becoming frustrated and embarrassed, not wanting to talk to Ben about this. He was in Italy to save Amy and John, not waste time by talking to Ben. Ricky sighed and said, "We're wasting time."

Ben nodded. "Right. Uh, the- the guy sounded familiar. I think I remember being by the fountain with Maria the other day, and I saw two guys pass by. The man on the phone sounds just like the one I heard- except he was speaking Italian when I saw him."

"And have you seen Amy yet?" Ricky questioned him. "Did you see her with them? Where did they go after you saw 'em?" Ricky took a deep breath, trying to steady his breathing as he could feel his self hyperventilate.

"No, I haven't seen Amy. Uh- I saw them walk into a dark alley after they passed by me. I think they were arguing about something, but I couldn't be too sure. They were speaking in Italian, and I don't know Italian, unfortunatly." Ben replied slowly, keeping his head low to the ground as he spoke.

"Oh. That dark alley?" Ricky asked, pointing.

Ben nodded. "Yes, that's it. I don't think we should go there, though, we could get taken, too." Ricky shot a dirty look at him. "But if it will help Amy and John, then let's go. I- I don't know what I would do if I lost them."

They walked down the road to the alley. They stepped between it and walked down the path for a while, but the water puddles slowed them down as they had to step in them. They finally came to a dead end, where there was an old, tall fence which was the only way over it.

Ricky walked near the fence and examined it closely. "This must be where Amy fell." Ben looked up at him curiously and Ricky turned around and answered, "I heard something on the voicemail that sounding like she was falling or something. I bet he dragged her down. Then she was screaming, remember?"

"Yeah, well my head was spinning once I heard her screaming, so I couldn't really concentrate on anything at that moment." Ben replied, suddenly looking embarrassed.

Ricky and Ben both turned around once they saw Maria walking towards them. Ben looked at Ricky and back at Maria, and he walked over to her and said, "Uh, Maria, I don't think this is a really good time for you to be here.. Something has happened to Amy, and I-"

"No." Ricky interrupted, yelling as he became angry with him again as he saw Maria. "Just forget it Ben. Go have sex with your new girl friend. I don't need you. There's nothin' you can do to help me find her. You're actually just getting in the way, so I'll see ya' later."

________

**Amy's POV**

_Chris_ walked into this room that they locked me in with a different guy that I haven't seen yet. He had the same mean look that the others had, and he had black hair with a beard. He was short and heavy- around 250 pounds.

My head felt dizzy, and it was hard for me to see clearly. The drugs must have not worn off yet. I quickly squeezed my eyes closed tightly so they would see I was sleeping and wouldn't hurt me. I listened closely as I heard them talking.

"That guy called again." Chris said angrily. I heard him pacing back and forth across the room, and then I heard something drop on the floor and break, but I was too afraid to open my eyes to look.

"I found the girl's phone where I picked her up at, and he left a voicemail. I think the kid's name was... Ricky?" He continued.

My heart stopped once I heard Ricky's name. Ricky left me a voicemail? I couldn't believe that he actually got my message. I wondered what he thought when he heard it. Was he worried or mad? I couldn't imagine what he could've thought or did at that moment.

"Oh. What did he say?" The other guy asked him sheepishly.

"I don't remember the exact words, but he said something like he's coming. I called him to warn him about the consequences if he dared to do that, but he seemed serious. We can't let him get near here, though he probably wouldn't be able to find it anyway." He laughed.

Ricky was coming? I couldn't believe it. He's coming all the way to Italy for me, or he could already be here. I can't believe that he would do that for me and for John. He must actually _care_ about me. No. It's just John that he's worried about, that's why he felt he had to come to Italy to save us or him.

But why would he only come for John? Either way, he's still coming to Italy. I was so overwhelmed, but in a happy kind of way. Although he won't be able to find where I am, and if he does, how would he ever rescue me? They won't ever let me go.

Even though I was terrified and apprehensive about the future and what would happen to me and what was happening to John right now wherever he was, I was actually smiling, and I couldn't stop. Ricky _cares_ about me. He was coming all the way to Italy, or he was already _in_ Italy, because of a voicemail I left him. He automatically assumed I was in trouble.

"Alright, let's get her ready." Chris said. The smile disappeared on my face. I wondered what he meant by 'get her ready'. I barely opened one eye so I could see what they were doing, but then both of my eyes opened with fear when I saw more drugs. He was holding a seringe in his hand, getting ready to drug me again. I already felt drowzy and sick from the last one.

They were now aware that I was conscious. I squirmed and yelled as I tried to get loose from the rope that was tying me down on the bed. He tried to stick the needle in my arm, but I jerked my body quickly and the needle fell to the floor.

"Be still!" He yelled. He sat down on the bed on his knee and grabbed me by my waist and held me down. "It'll hardly hurt at all." He laughed.

I squirmed around again, but this time he managed to hold me still, and he stuck the needle deep down into my arm. I yelled out in pain as the needle tore into my skin, and within only a few seconds I was out cold.


	7. Chapter 7

Here's the next chapter! The situation Amy's in is somewhat inspired by the movie Taken. Look it up if you haven't seen it, lol. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter! Sorry it's so long Lol! Tell me what you think about it, please review! :D

_________

A few days had gone by, and still nothing. Ricky opened his eyes and looked at the clock in his hotel room. It was only six in the morning, but he decided to get up so he could try and find Amy and John. He sighed and swung his legs over the bed and stood up. He took in a deep, nervous breath as he shut the door behind him after locking it. He put the key in his pocket, and he walked downstairs to the hotel plaza.

Once he was outside, he groaned once he saw that it raining, and he was startled once he heard the loud rumbling of the thunder. Although it was morning, it was dark because of the storm, and it seemed that it was only getting worse.

He put up the hood on his jacket and wandered around the city, feeling lost as he had no idea where he was going or what he should do. He had lost all hope of ever finding Amy and John. Even if he wanted the police to get involved, there was no way he could. Ben accidentally deleted the voicemail when he had an attack over hearing Amy screaming.

Ricky had no proof and no evidence whatsoever that they had been taken. All he could do now was continue to search for them. He didn't understand why it should be so difficult to find where they were, even though it was a huge place, but how many places in Italy could hold girls hostage as sex slaves? He had only been here for two weeks, but he was already doubting that he could save them.

The whole city lit up as the lightning struck, and Ricky cursed under his breath and desperately whispered, "Where are you, Amy?" He then looked down, watching the rain fall as it hit the ground hard.

Ricky stood completely still and let the rain hit his face. For a second, he felt at peace, listening to the calming yet depressing rain. But it gave him the slightest bit of hope as he stood listening to it. It made him remember that Amy could be _anywhere_ in this city, she could be only a mile away, whether he knew it or not. Amy _was_ out there and so was John, but Ricky still feared the worst. He feared that he would find them, and it would have been too late. He just wanted to know that they were okay and that they were alive wherever they were.

Finally, he began to walk again, knowing that their death was drawing closer every minute. He walked down a solid, paved road that was in between the clock tower to the left of him and stores, such as restauraunts and cafes, that were lined up to the right of him. Straight ahead of him, he saw the fountain, and he watched as he saw the fountain water colliding with the rain. He watched as people were passing by and in front him, running quickly to get away from the rain.

The shouting and chattering of people were overshadowed by the storm, although he could hear it, he couldn't focus on the noise. He only heard the rain and the thunder, and he only saw the lightning. Everything else didn't seem real to him. Everything else seemed so far away, like it was in a different dimension. He couldn't feel anything except the freezing cold feeling that ran through his entire body, and nothing else existed to him.

Finally, Ricky decided to go inside a restauraunt called 'Ristorante Caffè La Capriata'. It was small, and as he entered, he saw the front desk and at the back of the room there were small, round tables lined up across the room. He walked to the back of the room and sat down at table in the corner. It wasn't too crowded, but half of the tables were filled.

"Potermi aiutarlo Lei?" Ricky heard the waitress ask as she suddenly walked to his table. He flinched and looked up at her, but he couldn't seem to make him self say anything. "Can I help you?" All he did was smile a fake smile and shake his head.

Ricky could feel someone watching him. He turned his head behind him and heard the man who was staring at him talking to the waitress. He couldn't understand what he was saying since it was in Italian, but he recognized his voice. It was the same guy he heard on the voicemail that Amy left him that one night.

Ricky quickly turned back around once he met his evil stare. He was still talking to her, but when he stopped, Ricky saw him walking toward the door to leave. He watched him from the corner of his eye, but then his eyes were fixed on a piece of paper that fell out of his pocket without him noticing.

He walked over to the small piece of paper and picked it up and looked at it. The words were large and sloppy, written in cursive. It was a list of something, but it was all written in Italian, so he had no idea what it said. It was a list of numbers and a bunch of Italian words out to the side of it. He stuffed the paper into his pocket and flew out the door of the restaurant.

"Wait!" Ricky yelled to the man he had just seen in the restaurant that had kidnapped Amy. He ignored him and ran away quickly, but Ricky rushed faster after him and yelled to him again, "Stop!" He followed him down the street that led back into the city square.

It was still dark because of the storm, and it was difficult to see him. Ricky ran through water puddles, shoving everyone out of his way. He kept his eyes focused on that man, and he didn't pay attention to anything else except catching him. "Stop!" He yelled again. The guy looked behind him at Ricky, and when he turned around, he got hit by a bus and came collapsing down to the ground.

Ricky ran over to him and stayed a few feet back and looked at him for a brief second, then he bent down on his knees and carefully took out a gun that he found in his pocket. He looked in his other pocket and found a keychain that held around fifty keys. He then found something else and took it out. It was a small notebook, which contained only around twenty pages, but it was also written in Italian.

He stuffed the gun, keys, and the notebook into his pocket and stood up, quickly walking away from the now deceased man that lay in front of him. Ricky walked to the other side of the town square and sat down in the bench that was in front of a small drugstore.

In front of him, he saw the fountain and behind that was a tall and wide castle-looking building, and to the left of that was the clock tower and more unfamiliar places that were just simple, large buildings with no signs or anything on them. And to the right of him, he saw ground and a church, but nothing else could be seen where he sat.

The storm was still going on just as it was before, but it had gotten worse. It was raining harder along with wind, and the thunder had gotten louder. The sun was completely hidden behind the clouds, and a huge, dark storm cloud was overcast across the sky.

Ricky reached his hand down in his pocket and pulled out the notebook. It had a leather brown cover, and inside it the pages were faded and partially wrinkled, but the writing was still readable, although he didn't know what it said.

He studied over the words for a long time, but finding no meaning whatsoever in them, he shut the notebook and angrily crammed it back into his pocket. He put his hands on his knees and pushed himself up unto his feet. He took out his cell phone and looked at the time- it was three in the afternoon.

He put away his phone and walked forward as he listened to the trickle of the rain. He groaned loudly as he became impatient and doubtful again. He tightly squeezed his eyes shut and scrunched his face together. He opened his eyes again, and tears came pouring down his face, as he came falling down to the ground on his knees. He sat there crying his eyes out, and he looked up at the sky and yelled angrily, "Why did this have to happen?" He cried. "Why!"

His whole body was trembling beneath him. The tiniest bit of confidence in finding Amy and his son that he once had was now gone. Suddenly, Ricky was startled once he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. He struggled as he pulled his self up unto solid ground, and he quickly ran under a covered, concrete walk way, so he could get out of the rain.

He leaned against the wall and quickly picked up his phone and answered it without even looking at the caller ID as he yelled into the phone, "Hello?"

"Hello? Ricky? What happened to Amy? Is she all right? Are you all right? How could she fly to Italy without even asking me- I don't understand. She's never done anything this crazy before. Where are you? Adrian told me you were in Italy, too. You left her a note? What's the emergency?" Ricky recognized Amy's mother's voice.

He sighed, hating to hear about Amy flying to Italy. "Mrs. Juergens, I'm fine. Yes, I'm in Italy. Adrian drove Amy to the airport, and she flew to Italy. I think the main reason she did that was because of Ben. She was worried about him cheating on her, and she wanted to go and stop him. I agree, it was crazy of her to do that. But don't be mad at her. She did have good intentions. Amy's been- Amy- She.. She's been taken. This guy kidnapped her, and I don't know where she is. I am determined to find her, but I have no idea where she could be. I don't really know how to tell you this, but Amy-" He looked down at the ground as he groaned to himself once tears filled his eyes, and as he spoke, his voice cracked, "Amy's at some place where they're going to- sell her. For..sex. I was talking to the guy that took her, and he told me he wouldn't let her go until she was 'sold'. I know that's what he meant. I- I don't know where John is. I don't think he's with Amy. I have no idea where he is, and I really don't know what to do anymore."

I heard Anne crying on the phone. "Oh my god. Ricky- you.. you went to Italy to save her? I can't believe you would do that. Where are you right now? What- what are they doing to her? How do you know? Are you sure? Do- Do I need to come there?" She rambled.

"I'm-" He looked around. "I'm in the Piazza Maggiore. I think that means town square in Italian. I don't know _exactly_ what they're doing to her, but I know how those places work. It's a gang of people that randomly take girls and hold them hostage and abuse them and sell them as slaves, but it's too early now, I don't think they've done much to Amy yet. I- I found this notebook that he dropped. It's written in Italian, but I think it could help me find Amy. And no, don't come here. There would be no reason to do that."

Anne was speechless. Ricky looked to the right of him, and he saw something that made his heart explode in his chest. Standing about thirty feet away from him was someone carrying John. "Uh, Mrs. Juergens- I have to go."

"No! Ricky, wait!" She yelled to stop him from hanging up.

He quickly hung up his phone and stuffed it into his pocket. He ran as fast as could over to where he saw John. The girl was taking him into a restaraunt, she looked fairly young, around twenty. "Hey stop!" He called after her.

She quickly turned around and stared at him as she held John tightly in her arms. "Can I help you?" She asked with an Italian accent.

"Yes you can. You can give me back my son." He said rudely.

"Your son?" She asked. "You look young to have a son. A girl gave me him to take from her, she told me to protect him and that is what I'm doing." She stated. Ricky stared at her in disbelief; he couldn't believe that Amy gave John to her.

"Yes, okay, well this is my son. She's the mother of my son, and she's in trouble. That must be why she gave him to you. So please, can you just give me my son back? Please." He begged.

She shook her head. "No, I'm sorry. I can't give him to you. She told me to keep him safe. If I give him to you, then we don't know what you will do to him. Now go away."

Ricky sighed. "No, I won't go away until you give me my son! Amy- the girl you saw, is the mother of my son. And I'm his father, so give him back to me now! He isn't your son, you can't keep him!" He yelled angrily, as tears filled his eyes.

"Okay. I will give him to you. You seem to be his father. He does kind of look like you." She laughed. "He was drugged when I first got him, but he's healthy now, so don't worry." She hesitated before she handed John to him, and he quickly took him away from her and walked off.

"Wait." She called after him. Ricky turned around and looked at her.

"This girl- Amy, do you love her?" She asked.

Ricky looked at her, surprised, but he was silent for a moment as he was lost in his thoughts, but then he answered, "I- I don't know. I don't really think I'm capable of loving anyone. The only one I know I love is my son." Ricky said angrily.

He quickly walked off after saying that. "Hey John." Ricky whispered, with tears in his eyes. "I promise I won't let anything else happen to you. I love you." He promised, as he leaned down and gently kissed John on his forehead.

Ricky walked over to the same bench where he sat earlier so he could get him and John out of the rain, and he set John down on the bench beside him and tightly held onto him. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the notebook. He opened it and studied over the words for a long time, but he couldn't find any familiar words.

He shook his head frustratingly, but finally decided to try again to see if he noticed anything. He had a feeling that this book could help him find Amy, if only he knew what the words said. He looked over it again, examining each individual word. And finally, he noticed something that caught his eye.

Down all the pages, there were numbers lined up. Five digit numbers. He didn't find any meaning for it at first, but he realized that the numbers were representing people. They represented all the slaves, and it must be some kind of code for something. Written out to the side of each number was a price, but there was nothing else that he could recognize. Everything else was jibberish.

He decided that there was nothing in it that could help him until he figured out what he said, so angrily he shut the book and crammed it back into his pocket.

Ricky hugged his knees into his chest, and sat there not doing anything, not knowing what else he could do. But suddenly he noticed something. He looked up, his eyes narrowed, and he saw car lights flashing by.

At first he ignored it, but as he looked closer, he saw _Amy _in the back. He pulled himself off the bench and raced after the truck, his heart pounding inside his chest.

They were going too fast, and he couldn't keep up with them. He read the license plate number on the back of the truck and repeated it over and over in his head, but he knew that wouldn't help him. He took out the gun that was in his pocket, and he shot in the direction of the truck.

It didn't do much, but it made them slow down as they heard the gun being shot. He was only about ten feet away from her now. She was so close to him, and it made his heart melt to see her that way. And to see her at all. It had only been two weeks, but it felt like months to him.

He was overwhelmed, but he snapped out of it as he realized he was wasting time. He watched the man in the truck very carefully, and he realized that he hadn't stopped the truck because of the gun shot. He was getting out. He hadn't even heard the gun.

As he went inside a store, Ricky ran up to the truck as quickly as he could. He got down on his knees on the ground, so he wouldn't be seen. He cringed when he saw Amy that close to him, and how terrible she looked. There were two other girls that were in the back of the truck with Amy.

She had bruises all over her arms, and she looked overdosed with drugs. Ricky wanted to wake her, but he figured that she wasn't sleeping, she was sedated. His whole body was trembling, but somehow he managed to calm himself down enough to touch her on the arm. He looked up at the store they were parked out, the guy was still in there.

He hesitated, but he put his hands around her and gathered her into his arms. He held his breath and looked away from her, he couldn't stand seeing her this way.

But he didn't hold her long, he had been seen, and the man was coming back out of the store. "Hey stop! What do you think you're doing?"

He didn't know what to say. He didn't answer him, instead, he ran away from him as fast as he could. But he was chasing after him. Ricky pulled out the gun again and quickly turned back around. He put his hand on the trigger and pulled it without hesitation, and he turned around, not wanting to look. But as he turned around, he bumped into someone else.

"You aren't taking her _anywhere._" The unfamiliar voice said. Ricky looked down at the ground, refusing to look up at him.

Ricky tried to fight him off, but he was stronger than him. He took Amy away, and put her back into the truck.

"No!" Ricky yelled. The truck door slammed and it drove away quickly, going at least eighty miles per hour. "Stop!" He yelled again, as tears poured out from his eyes. Ricky chased after the truck, but it was getting further away.

"Amy! Amy, I'm sorry!" He cried. The truck disappeared around the corner, but Ricky could have sworn that he saw Amy move. Amy was alive, and she heard him.

Without thinking, Ricky ran up to the quickest vehicle he could find. He didn't bother to even look closely at it before he did anything. He took the gun from his pocket and broke the glass in the window. He unlocked the door and got inside and closed the door behind him.

The keys were in the car. He turned the key, and started the car, going as fast as the car could go- 120 mph. He drove down the road, but he didn't see the truck that had Amy in it. He was distracted for a brief moment as he watched the rain hitting the windshield, but then he pulled himself together and focused.

Ricky didn't have any doubts anymore, of one thing at least, anymore. And that was that he _did_ love Amy. That was the only explanation he could come up with as to why he felt that way earlier when he saw how awful Amy looked. Through everything that had happened the past two weeks, he had fallen inlove with her.

He gasped when he finally had caught up with them again. He drove faster and pulled out the gun again. He shot through the window in the car he was driving and was so close to the truck that he shot the glass, but it didn't make him stop, he kept driving faster. Ricky shot again. Still nothing. One more time, he pulled the trigger, but still nothing happened.

They turned down another street, but then the truck stopped. Ricky quickly stopped the car and got out. "What are you doing?" He yelled.

They were both behind a large building. Ricky couldn't see much of where they were because of how dark it was, but he knew that they weren't on the road anymore. Ricky saw him get out of the truck and pick up Amy from the back. Then he heard him say, "You must be Ricky, right? Well I'm Mike. It's very nice to meet you, but I'm afraid that this is the last time we will see each other. So please go."

"You must be stupid if you think I'm leaving." Ricky yelled, with hatred in his voice. "I'm not leaving without Amy."

"Then I will be leaving." He answered him simply, as he walked to the drivers side of the truck and stuffed Amy inside before he got in. "Goodbye."

"Stop!" Ricky yelled. He quickly got back into the stolen car and chased after Amy.

_____

Amy's POV

I turned my head the best that I could. Ricky was behind me. Although I should be afraid at a moment like this, there was a small smile on my face. So it was true. Ricky _was_ in Italy, and it was _unbelievable_ to me that he would come after me. Even if I did die after this was all over with, at least I would've known that Ricky cared about me. He cared about me enough to run off to Italy to save me.

That was enough for me, just that he simply cared. Despite everything else, I could always know that. And it was enough. Every day that I lived through this, it would always be enough for me. So maybe that was a good thing, I don't know.

I closed my eyes, feeling drowzy as I quickly opened them again, forcing them to stay opened. I _had_ to stay awake. I gridded my teeth together frantically as I attempted keeping myself awake.

We were driving down a plain road that was going straight, then we turned and pulled back into _that place._ The place that I hated more than anywhere else. Where I was held hostage.

Mike got out of the car, and walked around to my side of the truck and grabbed me up in his arms. I was too weak and tired, and I couldn't even t_ry_ and fight him off. I just let him carry me, I was tired of fighting it. I just let it happen.

He carried me inside after he opened the gate and walked down the long walkway. I hadn't remembered where we had gone and where he took me or why, I guessed that I was asleep while it was happening. The only thing I was awake for was when I saw Ricky.

I was too confused to remember whether I had even been asleep at all. I knew I must've been when he took me, but I just couldn't remember.

Mike threw me inside of my room they kept me in, and he threw me down on the bed, tying me down by my hands. He stuck another needle down in my arm, only this time unlike every other time, I didn't try and stop him. I had faith in Ricky that he was going to save me. It was a weird, unusual feeling I had, but I just somehow knew he would. Or maybe I just hoped he would so much that I was just confusing myself. My mind wandered off as I was out again within only seconds.

_____

RICKY'S POV

I raced down the road in the stolen car. I had lost them. I didn't know where I was, every road looked almost the same, and I couldn't hardly see anything in the dark.

It had only been minutes that I lost them, so I figured that I was close to them right now. They couldn't have gotten _that_ far. I must be close to where they kept Amy, we'd been driving for around an hour or so.

After they turned down a road, it became too dark and I couldn't see clearly anymore. There were too many cars on the road, and I got stuck behind someone and soon after I couldn't see them anymore, but I knew that I was now heading in the right direction. I was sure that I turned down the right road that he had gone on.

My heart was pounding in my chest, and my breathing had become more rapid. I had a feeling that I was so close to Amy. I could _feel _her around me- it was the strangest feeling, but I just somehow knew I was close.

I pushed the gas pedal harder, going around 110 miles per hour, but then I slowed down to around 90. I didn't want to get arrested in the process of finding Amy. I picked up my phone, and frantically dialed a number. The number of the hotel I was staying at- the same one to where Ben was staying.

Then I had a thought. Could Amy have ever been at that hotel? I mean- she had to have stayed somewhere the first day before she was taken. She told me she had found Ben and was following him.

"Ciao?" The lady said over the phone.

I took a deep breath and said, "Hello?" _Please, please_ speak English, I thought to myself.

"Hello. Can I help you?" She said after a few seconds. I let out a sigh of relief.

"Yes! You can help me. Uh, by any chance, did you have a girl named Amy Juergens check out a room a couple of weeks ago?" I asked, as I looked to the left and right of me, still hoping I would see them.

"Uh, Amy Juergens? Hold on." There was a long pause on the phone. She was probably looking for a record of her, and then she said, "Yes. She checked out a hotel exactly two weeks ago. She left that next morning, and she hasn't checked back in since then. Why? Were you looking for her?"

"Yes." I answered quickly, not wasting any time. "I was looking for her. And I know where she is, she's been taken. Please can you hurry and look up Ben Boykevich, and tell me a number I can reach him at please."

"Yes, right away. One second." She replied, speaking again shortly after. "I'll have him on the line in just a minute. Hold please."

After around a minute, I heard Ben's voice over the phone. "Uh, hello?"

"Ben! This is Ricky! I- I need you to do me a favor! Quickly, please!" I shouted.

"Ricky? Ricky, is everything okay? How's Amy? Have you found her? Do you need me to help-I can be there in just a-"

"Shut up, Ben!" I yelled. He was distracting me. "Listen to me, okay? I'm still in Bologna, but I'm about thirty miles away from where you are right now. Listen, get in your car- just get in _a_ car right now. Drive as fast as you can. I- I saw Amy in the back of a truck. But I lost them, but I think I'm heading in the right direction. I don't know exactly where I am, but I'm on a road that's just going straight. There's a restaurant on the left of me I'm about to pass, it's called _Ristorante Diana_. I don't know if you know where that is, but just get your ass down here now! We're running out of time! Now that they know I'm after her, I- I don't know what they're going to do to her! I need you to meet me down here. Call me when you're here, and I'll tell you where I'm at, unless somehow you happen to find me. I- I'm in a hurry now so that's all I can tell you! I need you to take John. I don't know what else to do with him! Please hurry!"

"I- I know where that is, Ricky. I'll be there. Don't worry. I'm coming. I'm on my way right now as we speak."

"Yeah. Hurry up!" I shouted as I hung up the phone, setting it down beside me on the seat.

I didn't know if I would be able to find the place. I didn't know what it would look like, but I figured that I would know it when I saw it. After a few minutes, I picked back up my phone, realizing this was the only solution if I couldn't find her. I dialed the number for the police, and it rang only one time.

"Hello?"

"Hello! Look- my, uh- my friend, she's been taken about two weeks ago, and she's being held hostage as a slave _somewhere_. I just passed a restaurant called Ristorante Diana, I think I'm pretty close to her."

"I know where that is." The police officer said plainly. "Okay, we're tracking the phone call, and I'm on my way right now."

I nodded to myself and hung up the phone.

I turned right, since it was the only other way I could go, and went down a road that was intertwined between two tree branches, but then I kept going straight from there.

My heart was racing faster and faster after every second that passed. Sweat was building up on my forehead, and my blood felt like it was pounding under my skin. I _had_ to find Amy, I just had to. I hoped that I hadn't gone down the wrong road, and was only driving _further_ away from where she was.

But, no, I couldn't have gone down the wrong road. I was pretty sure I was on the right road.

I slowed down when I came to a red light, but then I felt stupid. There wasn't _anyone_ on this road besides me. So why was the red light on? I shook my head angrily to myself, as I thought, _It doesn't matter_. I was only distracting myself.

I drove past the red light, making a U turn down the road. I was going so fast that the car slid in the rain. Surprisingly, there was ice packed down on the road. I swirved out in the middle of the road, causing my body to jolt forward.

"_Ugh!_" I yelled out. I slammed on my brakes and fell back onto the hard, leather seat which knocked the breath out of me for a second.

I gasped for my breath to come back to me, and finally I drew in a deep, satisfying breath. I quickly started the car back and turned down the road that I had just attempted, going slower this time so I wouldn't slide again down the turn.

This time it was successful, and once I reached a road that continued on straight, I went back to the same speed I had before. I wiped the sweat off of my forehead, but then put that hand back on the steering wheel.

This road still barely had anyone on it, so I drove as fast as the car would go- 120 mph. The only other vehicle that could be seen on this road was a black SUV that was driving fast up behind me. I turned on the car lights and looked in the rearview mirror- it was Ben.


	8. Chapter 8

Hopefully you like this chapter. I want around fifteen reviews before I continue, so please review so I can know what you thought of it! Thanks =D

__

I slammed on the brakes and abruptly threw myself out of the car. I squinted as the lights coming from the SUV were blinding me. I awaited Ben to stop his car, and without wasting time, he suddenly appeared and raced over to me.

"Ricky, I'm here. What do you want me to do?" He said loudly, but his voice was uneven as tension and worry built up inside of him.

I took a deep breath as I tried to calm my frantic, rapid breathing. I took a few steps closer to him, but he quickly recoiled back a few steps when he saw the look on my face- it showed anger and appeared violent. I stared at him for a few seconds, my eyes narrowed, and he simply stared back at me, his eyes slightly widened with fear. I let out another breath, attempting to calm myself again, and then I walked closer to him.

I held John out in my arms for Ben to take him. "I want you to take John."

He shook his head, confused. "You- you want me to take John?"

I nodded. As he knew we didn't have much time left before something tragic happened to Amy, he quickly took John from me and placed him into his arms.

I walked off, heading back to the car. I turned half way around and looked at him over my shoulder as he said, "Don't you want me to come with you? I could help you."

I shook my head. I opened my mouth to speak, and the words sounded like a crying sound- distress and worry showed through my voice as I said each word quickly and loudly, without hesitated. "No, Ben. I don't want you to come with me. The only thing I want you to do is take John. There's nothing else you can do. I need to do this by myself- if I carry you along, you'll only slow me down."

"Are you sure?" He asked, even though he didn't seem to _want_ to come with me.

"Yes, I am! Just take John!" I yelled at him, tears suddenly filled my eyes. I tried to stop the tears from falling, but they continued to pour down my cheek. I stepped closer to Ben and shoved him towards the SUV as I became frustrated and infuriated. "Go! I don't need you! Take John and get out of here!"

"Ricky.." He paused, looking down at the ground. "You need me to come with you. You can't save Amy alone. Please let me come with you. I _love her_, and I have to know she is okay."

"No! You don't love her!" I angrily shouted to him. "I told you, I DON'T NEED YOU, now go!"

"Fine." He gave in. He headed back to the car and before he got inside he said, "But I do love Amy. Please, Ricky, save her. I don't know what I would do without her.. She's _everything_ to me. I trust that you'll save her. I promise I'll take good care of John."

"You better! If you dare let anything happen to him-"

"I won't." He interrupted me. We both glared at each other angrily for a second, and I nodded, and we both got back into our separate vehicles and drove off in opposite directions.

I felt like my heart was ripped out now that I didn't have John with me. I felt _empty,_ and even more alone than I was. I didn't think I could _ever_ feel anymore empty than I had before, but now I knew that it was possible, because I felt much worse. I had lost _both_ Amy and John. I didn't have any faith at all that I would save her, although I was close to finding her. If only I could be able to see her again- to talk to her again, I would apologize for everything. I made a promise to myself, that if I did find her, I would _never_ again be the same guy that I was before.

I raced down the empty streets as I looked left and right at each building that I had passed, in hope that I would have found the place. Why couldn't I have kept up with their truck? If I did, then I could have found where they've been keeping everyone. I could saved Amy and _everyone._I turned left down a two way turn that I had come to, and there in front of me- about one hundred feet away, was a large, dark three-story building which had windows in every square of the house. The eerie ,ominous-looking house was on the darkest end of the street- where the moon or sun couldn't even shine barely any light on.

"This must be it." I said to myself. My heart was racing as I got out of the car, hesitating going inside. But I had come too far to not go in. I walked over to the tall gate, surrounding the house, and opened it. There was a long walkway about sixty feet away from the front door. I finally got to the door and stood there fearfully. I couldn't go in this way, I suddenly realized. They'd definitely make me get out.

So I had to find another way in. I took out the gun from my pocket and held it in my hand, just in case. The only other way in would be through the windows- but I had no idea what story of the house Amy was in, and it was so high up, it would almost impossible for me to climb, but maybe if I climbed up there I could see Amy through the window.

I hesitated but walked around to the side of the house. I let out a long, painful breath as I tried to calm my heart which was pounding uncontrollably, but it didn't seem to help me. I could feel the blood running cold through my veins, and I felt like I could die right now. I had _never_ felt this nervous and apprehensive in my entire life. Not even when I spent those years cooped up in my room, praying to God that my father didn't come up there those nights. This was a much worse feeling- the feeling that I had lost everything that ever really mattered to me, and knowing that it was my fault. I should have stayed over there that night, I knew Amy was acting different. She said she had _things _to think about, I should have known she had this idea.

I stood beside the corner of the house, and I put my hand on one of the lower windows, pulling me legs up on the rim of the window. I climbed up higher until I reached the middle of the house where all the smaller windows were.

I stood on top of a window, holding onto the side of the house. Although I was terrified, at the same time I had hope that I would save Amy. I was so anxious, in a good and bad way, to see her. I was afraid of how hurt she was, but on the other hand I was excited to see her. to finally save her. I wondered what she would think when she saw me, if she did. I didn't expect her to feel the same way about me after everything she's been through, but that was the least of my worries now. I just had to find her, that was my main objective.

I looked inside the windows once I got up high enough- around two or three hundred feet in the air. A quick gasp escapes my lips. I saw Amy in the room tied down with a rope onto the bed. There were two guys that were standing over her with a needle in her arm. I couldn't see Amy's face clearly, but I could see bruises that were on her entire body.  
There was a small, black balcony under the window I was standing on. I let my legs step down on the balcony, but I kept my focus in the room where Amy was.

I squinted my eyes as I tried to see her clearer, but after it didn't help, I leaned closer to the window. I didn't worry about anyone seeing me, it was too dark for them to see through the window.

Amy was only wearing a bra and really short, cut-off shorts. There were scars and cuts all over her arms where they probably stuck the needles. I couldn't tell if she was awake or not, but I saw dark circles under her eyes and more cuts on her face.

I looked closer, and I saw that Amy was awake. I opened the window a tiny bit so I could hear what they were saying. They were trying to stick another needle in her arm, and she was trying to fight them off. I knew she couldn't, of course she was too weak.

"Please stop!" I heard her yell. Her voice was scratchy, and I could tell how hard she tried just to make any noise. I could also hear in her voice that she was crying. "Stop! Please!" She yelled again desperately.

"Be still!" He yelled to her. He finally forced the other syringe in her arm. He grabbed her by only one arm and roughly picked her up.

"W- where are you taking me." Amy said, groggily.

"I'm taking you where everyone else is." He replied.

"Where.. where is that." Her voice faded off as she fell asleep. I heard him laugh, and they both carried her out of the room. Cautiously, I opened the window completely and slowly climbed through and into the room. I closed the window and walked over to the bed where Amy had been, but I couldn't find anything. I pulled the hood of my jacket over me so I wouldn't be easily recognized. I hesitated at first, but decided I had no choice. I procrastinated and quietly opened the door a little. I looked out and saw a long hallway, and there were rooms down the entire hallway on both sides of the wall.

I slowly walked along the hallway, glancing down at the old wooden floors. Once I came to the end of the hallway, I looked to the right of me and saw Amy and a bunch of other girls. I cringed as I realized that they were auctioning to sell them.

I shoved myself through the crowd of people and stopped half way across the room when I saw Amy. She looked like a completely different person. I knew that if I did end up saving her, she would _never_ be the same again.

I began to walk again and stopped only five feet away from her and said in a quiet, low voice, "Amy." She turned her head towards my direction to look at me. Her face was lifeless with no emotion, and I could see suffering in her eyes. It was like she had given up.

It was almost as if she didn't recognize me. I pulled the hood of my jacket down, but her face didn't change. She turned away and looked down at the floor. I frantically stood there in a race for time, not knowing what to do.

Would she let me take her? I shook my head at the thought of that. Of course she would.

I walked closer to her until my whole body was touching her. She still looked at me the same way, but this time there was barely a tiny smile on her face. But it didn't last long, soon after she kept a straight face again.

As I saw the line growing shorter, I panicked. I quickly took off my jacket and threw it around her cold, worn out body.

I studied her closely for a moment. The look on her face was desperate, as if she was calling out for help. I ran my fingers through her hair and whispered, "I'm so sorry, Amy."

She didn't say anything. Instead, she stared deeper into my eyes like she had forgiven me already. I stared back, just as focused as she was.

"Get him out of here!" I heard a low, scratchy voice yell. I turned around and saw three men lunging towards me. Without thinking clearly, I did the first thing that came to my mind. I pulled out the gun from my pocket and pointed it to them while I grabbed Amy around the arm, pulling her beside me.

They didn't move back any, but the gun at least made them stop where they were standing, but not for long. The one on the far left of me also took out a gun. "Let the girl go, and I won't kill you," he told me."

"No," I said back to him. "You let her go and everyone else that you have locked up here, and I won't kill _you. _What you're doing is illegal and wrong, and I won't be leaving unless I leave with Amy. Just let her go."

He laughed. "Why would I do that?" He asked coldly. I shook my head angrily and didn't hesitate as I pulled the trigger. It went into his neck, and he fell backwards onto the ground. I shot the gun countless times before someone said, "Get rid of her."

"Get rid of her?" I cut in, yelling loudly over the noise. "What do you mean?! Please just let her go! I'll buy her."

I hadn't realized what I was saying, but at that point I honestly didn't care. He looked at me as if I was crazy and laughed before saying, "You're too young." He slowly stepped closer to me cautiously, but he held up his gun and watched me closely. It happened so quickly that I didn't even realize it, but he took Amy away from me and scooped her up into his arms.

"You're crazy!" He shouted at me. I shook my head at him, wondering how he thought I was crazy. "_You're_ crazy! Look what you're doing! Torturing random girls that you picked up off the street!" I shouted back harshly in him, my voice rung with venom and hatred.

"Take her away from here," he told someone. "Get her far away from her and just get rid of her. Do whatever you have to do. It doesn't even matter. Kill her if you must. I just want her away from here, and I want _him_ to be out of my sight."

He nodded and took Amy from him and ran towards the exit door of the building. I raced after him, angrily shoving each person that got in my way. Once we were outside, we ran down the walkway and out the gate. I watched as he got in his truck and threw Amy in the back with her hands tied together behind her back.

I quickly got in the car that I had stolen. I put the keys in the ignition and started the car. We were both driving around ninety miles per hour. I was following close behind him as he drove faster and faster, but it was easy to follow him since there were no other cars on the road.

He made a U turn, trying to trick me, but I still had no problem following behind him. I saw Amy in the back of the truck, lying on her bed, staring at me. I pressed the gas pedal harder as I became impatient and frustrated as I tried to figure out where he was going. I couldn't see anything except what was right in front of me. It was pitch black dark outside, and that made it impossible to see anything clearly.

He suddenly slammed on his breaks and pulled to a stop. We had pulled into a gravel road that led up to a huge, deep lake. After I stopped my car, I quickly got out and slammed the door. He looked over at me with a dark, cold stare and picked up Amy from out of the truck.

He carried her in front of the truck and tossed her down on the floor. I walked around so I could see, and I saw him sticking a needle down into her arm. I ran up to him and yelled, "Stop! Don't hurt her!" He looked at me and completely ignored me. I couldn't tell if I had seen this right or not for it was so dark, but it looked like he was ripping her clothes off, and he took a knife and cut down her chest. She only made a soft grunting sound. She was probably used to being mistreated that way.

Hot tears were strolling down my face as I watched her in pain. My heart was pounding hard and uncomfortably in my chest, and I was lightheaded. He yanked her up by her arm and yelled to me harshly, "If you want her so badly, then go get her! She's all yours if you can find her! Good luck."

He ran up to the lake and threw her into it. I couldn't have stopped him even if I wanted to. He was too far away from me, and I was too weak that I thought I would faint if I ran. I slowly and carefully walked around to the lake, and I saw Amy's wounded and naked body sinking quickly into the freezing cold water.


	9. Chapter 9

Yeah, so I know this is like really long, but I couldn't find any place to stop it at and split into two chapters. But anyway, I know this took FOREVER, and I'm sorry for that! I really want reviews for this because it took me so long, I hope you like it! Let me know what you think.

___

I quickly stepped into the water. As soon as I felt the cold water, a sharp chill ran down my spine. The water was nearly below freezing, and I knew that if Amy was in the water too long, she would either die from the cold or she would drown.

I didn't care that I could end up sick from this or that I could die. This was it. This is what it all comes down to. I'm the only one who can save her now. Right here and right now. Not thinking straight as I stood, the water only up to my ankles, I pulled off my shirt and threw it over me onto the ground. Amy had no clothes on, and if and when I get her out she'll need to wear something.

I hesitated only for a second as everything I did I knew was a race against time, and I quickly pulled down my jeans and tossed them over on the ground as well. I took a step closer into the water, and I walked deeper out until it got to my chest.

I had goosebumps all over me, and I knew I had only so long before hypothermia set in. But despite this, I tore into the water and went under, but I could hardly see anything. Shortly after, I came back up gasping for breath before I held my breath and dived back into the water.

Although my eyes were burning, I kept them opened even though I could barely see anything. I swam down deeper into the direction where I saw Amy sinking, and I knew that mine and Amy's lives were at risk every second that we were here. I pushed down as fast as I could, but the shivering of my body was slowing me down.

I was losing too much oxygen now, and I needed to go back up. But instead I just blew out and held on for a little longer. I looked down at the bottom of the ocean which was only a small distance from me and I saw a dark image of something. I assumed it to be Amy.

My lungs were nearly exploding from having no oxygen, but I was so close and had came too far to give up. It was difficult though, and I was now fighting to stay conscious and to keep myself moving. I told myself that I had to keep going. I had to get to Amy. Everything was blurry to me as the water filled my eyes, and I could literally feel my head spinning and my stomach twisting into knots.

I wasn't sure how it was possible, but my head actually felt warm like I could be sweating if I wasn't in water. I wasn't even sure that I wasn't, though, but my body was freezing. It was an excruciating cold feeling that left me feeling like I could be paralyzed. It was like I wasn't even swimming through the water, I was just kind of gliding along. Nothing felt real to me anymore, it was just like I saw that I was moving but I didn't seem to be getting anywhere.

I suddenly had stopped completely, floating in stillness only feet away from Amy. My whole body had become completely numb, and I could feel the hypothermia starting to build up in my body. My lungs were on fire, and I was breathing in water.

My head felt even warmer and was pounding, I could hear my heart roughing thudding in my chest. I made a gasping noise and stopped myself from sucking in water, but it was becoming harder for me to restrain myself.

I was so close to Amy now that I could touch her. As my hand sunk down to hers, I weakly wrapped my fingers around her hand, but I made no other movements. My eyes somehow managed to look at her. All I could do was barely make out her features, but it wasn't clear. Darkness surrounded me, and I wasn't even sure if what I was seeing what actually real.

But what I thought I saw was Amy, her eyes half way open, and I wasn't sure how she could still be conscious but she was. She was strong, she probably learnt that from the awful experience she had just been through. I could see in her eyes that she was fighting to stay alive, but at the same time she had given up. I wasn't going to let it be that way. I wasn't about to let her die.

I have no idea how I did it, but I forced myself to pull Amy onto my back, and I swam upwards. I thought that I could just float up, but I figured I was so deep into the water that I just sank. And I had to fight, fight harder than I ever had before in my life, just to swim up.

I was barely even aware of what I was doing, but I just swam towards the light. The moon even seemed bright as I became closer to solid ground. Finally, I was near the surface, I was on ground again. I collapsed onto the ground beside the river, with Amy to the left of me. Our bodies were halfway into the water, but I didn't have any strength to pull myself completely out of it.

My breath was coming in quick, ragged, and pain-filled gasps, but I couldn't hear anything coming from Amy. I managed to turn my head only a little, and I pressed my mouth to her lips and blew a weak, yet huge stream of air. Nothing happened. I tried once again, but still nothing. I bent my head down to her chest, not able to move my hands, and I could hear her heart beating. It was weak, but it was still beating.

Once again, I blew air into her mouth. And her body quivered as she gained consciousness again. She sucked in a huge breath and coughed loudly, gasping for breath. Water came out of her mouth, and she fell back onto the ground, breathing rapidly.

We both lay there with no strength to say anything or move. I could feel my eyes shutting, and at first I forced them opened, but I could feel drowsiness overtaking me, and I quickly drifted off to sleep.

____

My eyes opened as I woke up, and the sun had just risen. It looked as if it just peaked out behind the clouds. It still wasn't bright outside, but the sky was an orange and reddish color from the sunrise.

Although it had only been two months, it seemed like I'd been here for a year. But I finally saved Amy, and she lay beside me right here and right now. I wasn't the same person that I had been before. Amy changed me. This experience changed me, and I would never go back to how I was before.

I knew that I already originally promised to myself that I would be different if I found her, but I never really expected it to just come naturally to me. I _really _was different, and I had a completely different look at things now.

A small smile appeared on my face, and I let out a quiet sigh of relief from my lips knowing that I finally saved Amy. It was good to know that all of this wasn't for nothing. Through everything that I had been through, I finally found her.

I turned my head slightly over to the right, the smile still on my face. Amy and I still lay with our legs in the water against the hard ground. I pulled myself up, and I still felt weak, but some of the strength returned to me. I picked up my shirt and jeans that I left on the ground and walked it over to Amy and whispered, looking right into her eyes which were closely watching me, "Here."

She took it as I sat back down beside her and stared straight ahead at the water. The sun was risen just above the river, causing there to be a glowing reflection in the water. I turned back to Amy after she put on the clothes, and they were a little big on her, but it really didn't matter at this point.

We were both sitting there with our knees bent beside one another. I stared at her apologetically, and she only barely shook her head. Her lips were pursed together, and I wasn't expecting her to speak to me anytime soon. She was probably in a state of shock, as I was.

I was surprised when I heard her say weakly, "You came for me." Her voice was scratchy and there was no life or energy in it. I studied her eyes closely for a moment with a soft expression on my face.

I nodded and said gently, "Of course I did." As soon as I said that, she turned her head slightly away from me, looking down at the ground as tears welled up in her eyes. They quickly trickled down her cheek, and she let them fall without wiping them off.

She sniffled and croaked, her voice sounding hoarse and she struggled to get the words out properly, "I can't believe you would do that!" She cried. I looked at her for a while, studying her face carefully.

My eyes wandered over her face, dark circles were under her eyes and her face was pale white. I followed my eyes lower down her body, and she didn't seem to mind, she was just watching me. Finally, I found my voice after studying the cuts over her body and said in a low, quiet voice, "I had to. I had to save you and-"

I stopped talking once her face seemed to turn even paler, which I didn't even think was possible until now. She cried even harder, and the tears rushed rapidly down her cheeks while she forced out her words, "This is all my fault. It's all my fault that J-" she stopped, and she squinted her eyes together. Did she forgot his name? "That- that my baby is gone."

"Amy, John- John is fine. He's with Ben," I told her frantically. She couldn't really have forgotten John, could she? She was just tired.

"Ben?" she asked, like she had forgotten him, too. I knew that she didn't actually forget him or John, but she looked like she had. She stopped a moment, as if she was remembering him. She probably hadn't thought about him since she's been in Italy. I nodded and said, "John's all right." She let out a sigh of relief, but she didn't stop crying. I knew she was overwhelmed by everything that had happened.

I hated to see her this way. I leaned over and pulled her into my arms, and she didn't push away, yet of course she probably didn't feel like she could. Instead, she wrapped her arms around me and cried on my shoulder. I whispered, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry about Ben, and I'm sorry for getting you into this."

I could feel her nodding against my shoulder. "I don't care," was her only response. I didn't know what she meant. Did she mean that she didn't care about Ben anymore? Or she just didn't care in general-- about anything. She spoke so quietly that it was hardly even a whisper. I started to pull my arms away from her, but she tightened her arms around me and said, "Stay."

___

"Come on, Ashley, let's go!" Anne yelled to her daughter as she nervously ran to the front door and set her small suitcase down. "George! Let's go before we miss our plane!" She huffed angrily, annoyed at how slow they were being. It had taken them way too long to get a plane booked, and she was nervous they were too late for Amy and John.

She finally saw Ashley and George speeding up the hallway into the living room. "Sorry! Let's go," George said. Without responding, Anne threw open the door and picked up the lightweight suitcase. They ran out into the pouring rain. It was late in the afternoon, but it was already dark. The three of the jogged out to the car; Anne threw her suitcase in the trunk of the car, barely hearing the _plump_ noise as it fell back into the trunk. George put the rest of the bags into the car, although they didn't need much, but they decided to pack whatever they thought they may need. Just in case.

Anne got in the drivers side of the car, while George sat in the passengers seat, and Ashley in the back. She quickly turned the key in the ignition and drove off in a hurry. They all sat in silence, too nervous and scared to say anything. Were they too late?

___

_Ricky's POV_

Amy and I sat in the same spot together, sitting up on the grass right beside the river. It was starting to rain, but it was only sprinkling, and Amy didn't seem to mind. I didn't mind, either, I really could care less about the rain.

But I knew that if Amy didn't get out of the rain soon before it started pouring harder that she could get more sick than she already was, if that was even possible. I wasn't sure if she would let me do what I was about to do at first, but I didn't think she had the strength to stop me.

I pushed myself up off the ground and unto my feet, and I gently scooped Amy up into my arms. It didn't seem to phase her. She just stared at me. I stared back at her, looking deeply into her eyes, and I couldn't recognize this Amy. She was a completely different person than she was before. It was like the past year hadn't meant anything. It was like she didn't even care about me getting her pregnant, or her having a baby. It was like she didn't care. About anything.

I knew it would take a long time for her to recover- mentally. Physically, she would be okay, I hope. But for right now, this very moment, all I wanted to do was be closer to her. I wanted to hold Amy, and I wanted to never let her go.

I ran over to the stolen SUV. I opened the door to the drivers side, and set Amy inside on the passengers seat. I closed the door as I was inside the car, and I looked over at Amy. She sat back against the seat, and she was just staring at me, expressionless and lifeless.

I clicked the button to lock all the doors in the car. I didn't want to take the chance that anyone would just walk in the car. I didn't want to lose Amy again. I started the engine, but then I stopped and just stared blankly at the window. Where was I gonna go? There was no where _to_ go.

I sat there for a minute, thinking of where to go, but I didn't even have much time to think about. I looked in the rear view mirror, and I saw a police car pulling up from behind me. It was the police. I had forgotten that I called them.

"Amy, I'll be right back," I told her. I took the keys out of the ignition, and as I walked out of the car, I locked it. I put the keys into my pocket and walked up to the police car. Two policemen walked out of the car. They were both short; they had dark hair, and one was short and over-weight, while the other one was taller.

"Ciao," the man said. I knew what that word meant, but I didn't say anything. He paused, but then continued, this time in English. "You did the right thing by calling us," he said in a low, Italian accent. "We arrested those guys, and the whole place has been shut down. All the girls have been taken to the hospital. You're a real hero, son. I heard about how long you've been here, and how long you were determined to find your friend. Amy? Is that it?"

I was speechless. I couldn't believe that he had found that place, and he arrested them and all the girls were saved. And _I did that. _I simply nodded and then said, "Yes. She's in the SUV," I pointed, but then I remembered it was stolen. "Uh, I.. It's stolen, but- but I didn't have a car and-"

"We know," he cut me off. "Don't worry about the car." He smiled calmly. "How bad is she hurt? I know she hasn't been there as long as those other girls, but I know she must be in pretty bad shape."

"She is," I said. "I'll take her to the hospital. She probably should be checked out."

He nodded and they both walked beside the doors of the police car. "We'll meet you at the hospital, and we need you to answer some questions. But you can stay with her if you want. Oh, and we found the number for her parents. They're here in Italy, and they're meeting us at the hospital."

I narrowed my eyes in surprise. They were here in Italy? I talked to Amy's mom a while ago, but I can't even remember when that was. I had no idea how long I had been here. I wasn't even keeping track of time anymore. "O- okay. I.. I'll see you at the hospital, then."

They both nodded and got into their car. I walked back to the SUV, and I locked the door once again after I was inside. "How do you feel, Amy?" I asked, but I knew that was a stupid question.

She looked at me, and all she did was barely shrug her shoulders. I stared back at her, lost in her suffering eyes. Her eyes were red, and they were desperate. I didn't know what to say to her, but I knew she didn't feel like talking. I wouldn't be surprised if she hardly talked to anyone for a long time.

I decided to just leave her alone. I started the car again, and I drove off to the hospital.

-

The hospital was only a ten minute drive, but it seemed to take so much longer than that. I opened my car door and walked around to Amy's side. I opened the door to the passenger seat, and she just sat there, staring blankly forward, as if she didn't even notice or care that I had opened the door.

I waited a few seconds and then I picked her up and shut the door. I turned around and faced the hospital. It was large, three-story building, and it didn't even really look like a hospital.

The walls were white and made out of brick, and there were tiny windows across the whole building. There were two balconies on the second floor, and a pathway that led to the front door. There were glass, see-through windows on the bottom floor, and when I got inside, there was a glass door that we had to go through before walking down a long hall.

Finally, I turned right and saw the front desk in the waiting room. It was surprisingly small, compared to the rest of the hospital. Against one wall, there were black chairs lined up, and the front desk was on the opposite wall. There were two doors, the one that led to the hotel rooms, and the one that led to the exit. I walked up to the front desk and looked at the dark-haired lady and I said, "Uh, hi," and I was about to continue, but the look she was giving me instantly told me to shut up because she couldn't understand what I was saying.

I didn't have time to worry about it, though, because I saw the two police officers walking up from behind me. One of the men came up to the desk and said something in Italian, and then shortly after he motioned for me to go down the hallway. The woman made an irritated look, and I scowled at her. She didn't look very friendly. She had scraggly hair that looked like it hadn't been brushed in a while, and she was really short. Like, really short. She was probably like four feet tall.

She opened the door to the hallway, and I followed after her and shut the door as I stared down the long hall. The floors were solid white, and there were doors lined up on both sides of the walls. We walked until we reached the door that was the fourth down from the last, and she pulled out her key and unlocked the door. I cringed; I hated hospitals.

She held out her hand and motioned into the room, and then rolled her eyes. I glared back at her, wondering what her problem was. I wanted so badly to tell her off, but she wouldn't understand me, so I didn't feel like embarrassing myself.

She shut the door to the hospital room as she walked out, and then I stared off into the room. It was a small room with wooden floors- the bed was in the middle of the room, and on the left side of the room there was a table close to the bed. On the wall the table was against there was a blue curtain that covered most of the wall over the window. To the right of the bed, the wall curved slightly off, making the room larger, where there was a door to a bathroom.

There was a small TV on the wall across from the bed and also a chair was on the right side of me. I walked over to the bed and gently put Amy down. She lay back against the pillows as I walked to the corner of the room and sat down in the chair. She lay on her side and stared at me blankly. I gave her a tiny smile, but then I crossed my arms and sat back in the chair.

The door suddenly slammed open. "_Damn it_," I cursed under my breath, dreading to see that evil woman again. But as she shut the door, I saw that it was someone different this time. This girl was younger, probably only twenty something. She had long, blonde hair, and she looked American (?!). She looked nicer, and it instantly made me feel better now that I knew I didn't have to deal with that shrew again. She smiled politely and said, "We're going to check her out now, so you can go back and answer some questions for the police. We'll let you know when you can come back."

I nodded, and looked over as the door opened again. The policemen stood there and motioned for me to follow him. As soon as Amy saw him walk into the room and motion for me, she sat up and had a worried look on her face. I wrinkled my face together, wondering what was wrong. Did she not want me to leave? Or was she afraid of him or something?

"I'll be back, Amy," I told her. She still sat up and watched me as I walked out of the room. He shut the door and headed down the hall, and I followed behind him.

We reached the door to the exit of the hallway. He turned around to open the door for me, and I looked at the name tag on his shirt- _Bill. _Well, that's a simple name. He opened up the door, and we walked into the room, and I saw Anne, George, and Ashley sitting in the waiting room.

My heart instantly starting beating rapidly, and I didn't know why. I guess I was nervous about them judging me for going after Amy, but mostly I was just nervous because I didn't know what to expect them to say.

It wasn't anything I expected. They seemed like they were actually _happy_ I was here. "Ricky," Anne said thankfully, light tears in her eyes. "I can not believe you came after Amy. I can't believe what happened. I didn't want to believe what happened. We would have gotten here sooner, but we had a terrible storm and no one could get on a plane. Thank you, Ricky. Thank you so much for saving Amy. I just hope she's okay," she said sadly, and then she paused a second before she spoke again. "How's John..." she trailed off nervously.

"He's fine," I told her. "I found him, and he's with Ben right now. How long have I been gone?"

"Almost three months," she told me.

_Three months? Then why was Ben still here? _"And school must have already started back.. and Ben hasn't left Italy yet." Maybe he really loves Amy as much as he says he does? _No. He's moved on. He cheated on her. He's just watching John for me. _I thought to myself. I truthfully knew that Ben loved Amy, but I don't think that Amy would ever be able to love him again. Or maybe I'm just biased.

I looked up and _Officer Bill_ was motioning for me again. I walked over to him, and they asked me a bunch of questions. They asked me when Amy came here, when I came here, when I found her, how I found her, and they asked me about John. They asked me how old Amy and I were. I felt weird telling them I was only seventeen and had a baby, but they didn't seem to think much about it.

It took about one or two hours for them to ask me questions. After that, they let me go back and sit with Amy's parents and sister in the waiting room. We all sat there completely silent until the door opened again, and the nurse was standing there. She smiled and me and said, "Ricky, Amy wants to see you. She's been asking about you. And you can come, too, if you want," she said to Amy's parents and Ashley.

My face lit up. Amy was asking about me? I looked over at George, and he smiled. We all sat up and walked back down the hall with her. She shut the door as we went into her room, and the nurse said, "She's really weak, but we've given her medicine and we're trying to help her recover her strength back. She also needed stitches, but other than that, we think she's going to be just fine. It's just gonna take time before she can get over this...mentally. But- there was something I wanted to talk to Amy's parents about.."

I shivered. Was something wrong with her? Amy's mom nodded after taking a long look at Amy, and they both exited out of the room with the nurse, leaving Ashley, Amy, and me in here alone.

Ashley stood beside Amy's bed and stared at me before saying, "_Uh, _I guess I'll leave you two alone. You probably have.. stuff.. you want to talk about or whatever. I'll be out there," she pointed near the door. She closed the door behind her on her way out and joined everyone else.

I looked over at Amy and saw her staring at me, but then I leaned against the door and listened to their conversation. I really wanted to know what they were talking about and if anything was wrong with Amy.

"So, what's wrong?" I heard Anne ask.

There was a short pause. "Well, there's something I should inform you of.. about Amy. She- she really wouldn't tell us anything, and it was very hard to tell exactly what the problem was. But, normally, after someone experiences something as terrible as what she's been through.. they- they go through a state of shock. And I think that's exactly what Amy's going through. She really isn't ever going to be the same again. At least not for a while. She may be like her old self again in a while, but it's going to take time."

"So, is there anything actually wrong with her? Physically, you know?" George asked.

"Um." She seemed nervous about something. "She's confused, and she probably has memory loss. She's probably forgotten things such as names, people, and certain things in her life. We don't think she has amnesia or anything, but we're still going to need to keep a close check on her at least over night."

There was a pause again. "She's been abused. She has cuts all over her body, and we aren't sure that she doesn't have some kind of.. well, illness.. from being sexually abused." I shuddered. "It isn't anything serious, at least not yet, but we can't be too sure though. She has a high fever of about 102, and that of course is causing some of the confusion. But don't expect anything after she heals- physically. Because mentally, she's going through a wreck of a time and it may only get worse."

"Worse?" Anne asked fearfully.

"Maybe," she answered. "Like I said, it's way too early to tell anything quite yet. She wouldn't tell us a single thing. The whole time we had her back there, she was asking about Ricky and when she could see him again. She wouldn't talk to me about anything else. I think that Ricky may be the only one she wants to have anything to do with for a while. I don't know if she trusts anyone else."

"Why would she not trust anyone else?" George asked angrily.

"She's afraid. She's afraid of almost everyone and everything, and she may only feel comfortable with Ricky. He.. makes her feel safe." After that, I pulled away from the door. I had heard all I wanted to hear.

I walked over to Amy and sat down at the end of the bed. "Hey, Amy," I told her. She looked back at me with watchful eyes, and I was surprised when I saw her smile at me.


	10. Chapter 10

_I walked over to Amy and sat down at the end of the bed. "Hey, Amy," I told her. She looked back at me with watchful eyes, and I was surprised when I saw her smile at me._

While smiling softly, she grabbed my hand before I lay back next to her. I blankly stared down at the white covers that we lay on top of, and I held my breath. Then, I sighed loudly before saying quietly to Amy, "So, you were asking about me?"

I looked up at her and smiled. I looked back down at our hands intertwined and heard her say weakly, "Yeah."

I slowly moved my other hand toward her face and delicately brushed it through her hair. She stared back at me, just like she had before, and then she frowned slightly and said in a low, almost whispering voice, "You left me."

I looked deeply into her eyes and tightened my grip around her hand and said, "Well, don't worry. I'm here. I won't leave you again."

"Promise?" She whispered.

I paused and thought about what the nurse was saying a few minutes ago, about me being the only one Amy trusted. I made her feel safe. Did she forget everything that happened, or did she really just not care anymore? I tried putting myself in her position- being held hostage, drugged, and abused. I realized that too much time was passing by, so I finally nodded and said, "I promise."

I felt my heart skip a beat after I promised this to her. I was so thankful to hear her talk to me again. I just stared at her, too awestruck to say anything. I was about to say something, but I heard the door burst open. I sighed and turned around, and Ben was standing there in the doorway holding John, with Anne, George, Ashley, and the nurse standing behind him.

Ben walked into the room with everyone following behind him. I stood up from the bed and stared at everyone over at the doorway. I crossed my arms as I watched them carefully. "Hey, Amy," Ben said quietly, standing in the middle of the room. There was fear in his eyes; it was like he was scared of her.

He walked to the opposite side of the bed, leaned down, and held John out for Amy to take him. Amy just looked at him, confused, but she finally took John. She held him in her lap, but she was looking straight ahead at me with a miserable look on her face. She wasn't paying any attention to John; it was like she didn't realize who he was.

Amy's family and the nurse stood circled around the bed watching her curiously as I tried to figure out what was wrong. "How are you doing, Amy?" Anne asked gently. She walked up to the bed on the side that I was on and stood right beside me over the bed. She looked at Amy, waiting for an answer, but Amy didn't say anything. She was looking back and forth between her mom, me, the nurse, her dad, and Ashley.

I looked at the name tag on the nurse's shirt- _Erica. _Well, she was definitely American.

Anne looked at George with a worried and concerned expression on her face. She painfully stepped back and walked toward the middle of the room. "Um," she finally spoke, looking

at me, George, and Ashley. "I think we should leave them alone. Let Amy talk to Ben... and see John," she said nervously.

I didn't move. I promised Amy that I wouldn't leave her, but she probably wanted to be alone with Ben now that he was here. Finally, all I did was simply nod, and I followed everyone toward the door. I stopped in the doorway when I heard Amy whisper, "No." I turned around. She tried to sit up, and Ben gripped his hands around Amy's waist, pulling her back. "It's okay, Amy," he told her. I wanted to run back into the room, but I saw the door shut in my face when the nurse closed it and I was standing outside the room, Amy and Ben in there alone with John.

____

Ben bent down on the right side at the front of the bed and looked back at the door. He returned his look back at Amy and said lifelessly, "I love you, Amy." He waited a few seconds, but Amy wasn't even looking at him. He gave up waiting for a response at sat down at the edge of the bed beside her.

John suddenly was squirming in her arms, and Ben held his hands out and offered to take him. As he reached for John, Amy shoved him off weakly and tried to stop him. Ben instantly pulled away, frightened by her response. He looked deeply into her painfilled and angry eyes, and he couldn't even recognize her. He realized that his Amy was gone. This was a completely different person that he was looking at.

His eyes wandered slowly down her body. She was wearing a large, loose-fitting shirt that was evident under her hospital gown. He winced when he saw the cuts down her legs and all over her arms. He looked at her face- it was pale white, and she had cuts on her forehead, chin, and above her eye. There were dark, bruised- looking spots formed under her eyes, and her lips were chapped.

Ben noticed how she still wasn't looking at him. She was looking straight ahead at the small window in the door. "Amy," he began. "I am so, so sorry. This is all my fault. I- I can't believe I let this happen to you. It's all my fault. I still love you. I love you so much, and that will never change. I hope you understand-"

"I just want to see Ricky," Ben was surprised when Amy interrupted him in a harsh, low voice. Ben felt like a knife had been stabbed through his heart when he heard the hatefulness in her voice. Did Amy really not care about him anymore?

Ben was angry, but mostly he was upset and confused. "Why? He- he doesn't want to see you."

Amy scrunched up her eyes and looked at Ben, bewildered. Angry tears started to fill up in Amy's eyes, and she let John roll over off of her lap and onto the bed. John lay on his back, screaming and crying as he sensed the tension building up in the room.

Amy didn't acknowledge John. She leaned forward and pushed Ben as hard as she could with the little bit of energy that she had. She sat up in the bed, and her face suddenly turned red, like she was becoming dizzy. "I said I want to see Ricky!" She yelled loudly, furiously, despite whether she felt lightheaded or not. Her eyes were spinning and she grabbed hold of the bed, like she was about to fall. Ben backed up and immediately stood up from the bed, frightened by her sudden outrage.

"O- okay," He said, not knowing what else to say as he backed up further.

The door bolted open, and Erica, the nurse, stood there and asked worriedly, "Is everything okay?" All Ben did was shake his head as he walked quickly to the door. He walked out into the hallway, and the nurse watched Ben as he left the room. She looked at Amy, who was sitting up in the bed with her arms folded together across her chest, and then she called out the door, "Ricky!"

__

_Ricky's POV_

I stood right outside the wooden door, and I couldn't see anything because it was half way closed. Erica opened the door wider and called, "Ricky!" Without hesitating, I pushed forcibly on the door and went into the room, leaving Amy's parents and sister in the hall alone (with Ben).

The nurse walked past me as I was heading for the bed. I turned around, and she had her hand on the door getting ready to shut it. "Her parents will be filling out paper work, but if you need _anything_," she emphasized. "I'll be at the front desk." She smiled her warm, gentle smile. She turned back around, and her long, blonde hair swept in the air. I waited for the click of the door being shut, and then I slowly stepped towards the bed.

I saw John lying across the bed, halfway hanging off, and I hurried closer. I leaned over and grabbed John, sitting down at the front of the bed beside Amy, holding John in my lap. "Amy, what happened? What happened with Ben?"

She scowled at Ben's name. "I don't want to see him," she said coldly. She motioned towards the doorway, but using her eyes and keeping completely still. "You can go."

A cold shiver ran down my back. Why'd she want me to leave? I just stared at her, astonished. "Why?"

Did she not want me around her anymore? Was she suddenly afraid of me or something? There was a long pause as Amy was staring straight ahead at the wall and finally replied, "Because you don't want to be here.

"What?" I said, confused. She looked back at me, and finally our eyes locked. I gazed into her tortured and puzzled eyes, feeling a cold chill in my heart. How could she think that I wouldn't want to be here? Did Ben tell her that? Maybe she was upset because I told her I wouldn't leave, but I thought she wanted to see Ben. "Of course I want to be here," I said gently. "I wouldn't be anywhere else."

The silence in the room was overwhelming. We sat there, staring at each other, before Amy finally looked at John for the first time. She wrinkled her face and studied him closely. "Is this my baby?"

_Of course. _I thought to myself. She said it like she forgot that I was even the father of her baby. I had thought that Amy would instantly remember John once she saw him and wouldn't be as confused like she was at the river, but she seemed to be just as confused. In fact, it seemed like she was even more confused. Of course it was her baby. It was our baby. How could she forget that?

"Amy, it's our baby," I told her. "John. Don't you remember?"

_____

_Amy's POV_

He paused, looking at me like he was waiting for an answer. _Ricky._ Why was Ricky the only person I knew? Why had everyone circled around me, looking all sad? I had come to the conclusion that they were my family, and I stuck to that, but now I was reconsidering it. Ricky had just told me that this creature was our baby. Was he actually the father? How old are we? Are we married?

The only memories I had were of being at that huge house with a bunch of my friends. They tortured us, but after a while, everything seemed so natural and I got used to them sticking me with needles. And sometimes, when they hit me, the pain was actually bearable.

I couldn't remember anything of my life from before that. The only thing I remembered were tiny pieces, but I couldn't even seem to put them together. All I knew, was that this boy- _Ricky_ saved me from drowning.

He saved me from those awful people and from that horrid place. I saw him shoot one of the guys dead, and at that second, I knew he was trying to help me. I don't know why, but Ricky just makes me feel safe. He rescued me, I get that, but it seems like a bigger reason than that. Like there's a bigger picture here that I'm just not seeing.

And then the next confusing piece of the puzzle was this baby that I now knew belonged to both Ricky _and _me. He must not be my husband because of that Ben dude who just said he loved me. Another conclusion I had was that we were only teenagers. I felt like I was an adult, but I sure didn't look like it. Not that I had looked at myself recently.

My thoughts were interrupted when Ricky said, ""Don't you remember band camp?" _Band camp?_

It sounded so familiar. Band camp? What about that was so familiar sounding to me? Like I had lived it before? And then, it was like bells had gone off; it sent a ring through my whole body as _band camp_ echoed inside my head. My eyes snapped closed, drowning me in memories.

I was seeing images- but they were vague and dark. A guy was walking up to a girl, an unfamiliar girl who I didn't even know, sitting at a table. Did I know her? The guy that was walking up to her.. who is that? It was Ricky. And in another flash, I saw the same girl with long, brown hair. She was so innocent and helpless, obviously not seeing the bad in the world. The girl was holding an instrument in her lap, while she said, "_My lips are a little dry,"_ and then he leaned forward and kissed her.

This faded out and then I saw them sitting on the couch together- it was dark, and she looked really nervous. "_We can talk, or we could do this,"_ and he leaned into her again and kissed her longer this time. They pulled away and she bit her lip. "_Yeah we could do that. I've never done that before."_

"_I bet you'd be really good at it,"_ he told her. She looked confused, and then he informed her, "_Making out."_

Another blackout. _"Yeah, what's a few more minutes?"_ The girl said, but it was mostly like she was saying it to herself. With a satisfied smirk, he moved back and kissed her again- or _making out_ as he had called it. He was kissing her aggressively as he pushed her off to the bed. She looked confused, but she didn't stop it.

He was tugging at her clothes, but within only a second after seeing this, I saw the girl collapsing on a front porch. She dropped her phone. A lady came up to her, and she asked for her mother.

Now she was in the hospital. She was lying back in the bed, talking angrily at a woman who was lying beside her. "_I just don't see how this is gonna work. I mean, how do we even know I have a birth canal?"_

Then she was in the same room, only this time, there was some guy in there passed out on the floor and two other people sitting in there with her. The same woman was running up to her side_._

The images were coming and passing by quicker now. I saw the baby. I saw the baby, and it all seemed so strangely familiar to me. Standing in the corner of the girl was Ricky and he was holding the baby. Then she was standing in a room, talking to a blonde girl.

I saw a house, with things for a baby scattered everywhere. Then there was a daycare. Ricky and the girl talking in the hallway. And then I saw more random images of them, but they went by so quickly for me to tell what they were.

Now the girl was sitting on a bed. Ricky was sitting in the corner in a chair with the baby. "_That's a good way to look at life_," he explained. "_When everything else is bad in our lives, at least we got him."_

There she was again- standing by a window with the scrawny, skinny guy that was passed out on the floor at the hospital. The baby was crying. The look on his face was so sad. He was holding her hands while he said, "_I love you, Amy. Maybe it's a good thing that I'm going away for this summer. Maybe we'll both find something.. find something that will really be good for the both of us."_

Ricky and the girl bumped into each other. They were in her room and he said, "_If he cheats on you, then he isn't that great anyway. Maybe he's right, maybe both of you will find something that'll be good this summer. I don't know what that is, but you might."_

The girl was being slung down in a truck. Then I saw her lying on the floor of a small room being beaten with a huge metal chain.

The final scene jolted me out of my thoughts and my mind had suddenly turned on from this frightening image, but yet so familiar.

And then it hit me. Oh my gosh! it hit me hard like a knife being plunged through my heart. The girl... the girl was me! And the baby's name was John! He was my baby. He was mine and Ricky Underwood's baby that happened from one single night at band camp!

Sparks were flying throughout my whole entire body, causing a sudden burst of energy. I shot up from where I lay on the bed and yelled, "Oh my god!" as I threw my arms around Ricky's neck. "I remember!" I cried, tears running down my cheeks. "I remember everything!"

Almost all my memories had come back to me, even though some things still confused me. But the memories were coming back to me, which meant I was getting better. The only problem was that I didn't even recognize these memories. I mean, sure, I sort of remembered some of them happening, but they just didn't seem like me- if that makes any sense. But hopefully I could get out of here soon and just go home.

_Home._ The word sounding surprising to me as it echoed through my mind. What would happen when I got home? What would people say? Would they treat me the same, or would they treat me like some kind of mental patient?

Ricky held me close to him, and I felt completely safe in his strong arms. I pulled away and said, "When can I go home?"

"I think you can go home soon. I'm not sure. Do you want me to go ask?"

"No!" I would've shouted if the soreness in my stomach hadn't caused my voice to squeak. "Just push the button," I pointed to the side of the bed to the button for the nurse. "There's no reason to go ask someone."

"Okay," he said, and I figured he was just obeying because he thought I would freak out otherwise. He pulled his arm back, which was still around my waist, and leaned over to press the button.

The blonde nurse came in the room only a minute after, and I suddenly felt nervous and uncomfortable. I didn't know her, so what reason would I have to trust her? But, weirdly, I felt protecting here with Ricky.

"Is everything okay?" she asked, smiling her too perky and friendly smile.

"Yeah," Ricky muttered casually. "When do you think Amy will be able to get out of here?"

She paused for a second, glancing between Ricky and me, and a tiny confused frown appeared on her face for a second. Noticing that Ricky was staring at her, the friendly smile returned quickly to her face. "Um, I don't know. We still need to run a few tests, but if everything looks okay, then she should be able to go home tomorrow morning. We just want to keep her here over night. There are a couple of questions, though, Ricky, that we need to ask you."

Ricky nodded. "Okay."

I looked behind me, and, seeing a clock, I glanced at the time. I squinted my eyes, and I couldn't make sense of the numbers or time. I couldn't even tell what time it was. How could I forgot something as simple as how to tell time?

Frustrated, I heard myself yell furiously out loud, causing Ricky and the nurse to flash a worried look at me. Tears were pouring down my face quickly like a water fall, and my head was clogging up, and the memories that I'd recalled from earlier were becoming faint and blurry.

I took a deep breath, and I was taken completely by surprise when I felt a pain in my lungs. I begged for the breath to return for me, and they came quickly in huge gasps as I began to hyperventilate.

My eyes blurred and my head was spinning, feeling like it was burning, and I dizzily fell over off the bed. The last thing I felt before passing out was someone grabbing my arms.

____

_Ricky's POV_

"Oh, no," the nurse shouted and ran over to Amy who was out on the floor, and pulled her up by her arms. She pulled her up onto the bed and pressed the emergency button as she stumbled over to the counter, pulling out a syringe and looking for medicine.

"What- what happened?" I stuttered. She was completely fine a few minutes ago. I didn't know what was going on. Two doctors and a nurse, the hag I first met at the front desk, trampled in and rushed around to put an IV into Amy's arm.

I saw Anne frantically standing by the door, bewildered by the screams of everyone coming from the room. The doctor walked quickly up to me like he was pushing me out of the room and said loudly over the commotion that was going on, "You can't be in here. Wait- wait in the waiting room. We'll let you know how she's doing."

He was shoving me out the door, and I looked over his shoulder at Amy. "No! I promised her I'd stay with her!"

"Look, you have to go. It's alright," he said, and that was the last thing I heard before he shut the door in my face, leaving Anne and I standing alone outside the door, the sounds now muffled.

"What happened?!" she exclaimed, her eyes wide and starting to turn red.

"I- I don't know," I said quietly, awestruck. "We were just in there talking, and she was completely fine. She had flashbacks and remembered everything. But then she started hyperventilating and it was like she had forgotten everything. Then she passed out on the floor."

Anne and I both looked up when we saw the nurse (the mean shrew that I hate) close the door and join us in the hall. She looked tired, but that wasn't enough to stop her from being the bitch that she is. With an irritated scowl on her face she said in a completely fake comforting voice, "Everything will be fine. Please wait in the waiting room."

"You can't make us-" I began, but I cut off midway when Anne nodded and started walking down the hall with the nurse. I sighed and followed them, even though everything inside me was telling me to run back into the room to be with Amy.

We sat down in the chairs in the waiting room, and I stared straight ahead at the empty front desk, seeing that no one was working up there. There were about eight other people in the waiting room with us, and a little girl was sitting to the left of me smiling.

With Anne looked curiously at me to the right, I looked away from her and down at the little girl. She had long, dark hair that reached to the middle of her back and big, brown eyes. She looked about five or six years old.

"Hi," she said in a quiet, friendly voice. She sounded like she was from America. "I'm Emma."

I tried really hard to smile, but it was probably evident how fake it was. I couldn't find the energy to smile. "Ricky."

"What do you have?"

I looked at her, confused, but I understood immediately what she meant and felt stupid. "I don't have anything." I stared at the golden heart locket she had around her neck and saw the word _love_ on it.

"Oh," she said. "Well I thought you must have something because you look so sad. You're all pale, I thought you had something."

I shook my head. "I don't have anything. It's.. it's my friend," was all I managed to say.

She nodded. "Oh. I've been here for eight months. I want to go home. They keep telling me every day that tomorrow might be the day I go home, but each day I get less and less hopeful thinking that maybe they'll let me leave. My daddy had to go to get psychiatric help so he can't be with me. But I have my mama."

I simply stared at her, shocked by what she just told me. When I heard the nurse calling her name back, she stood up with her mom while quickly saying to me, "I'm about to have a heart transplant."

When she got up, I saw scars all over her arms and legs. She said her dad had to get psychiatric help. Did he do that to her? Why would anyone hurt their daughter who had a heart disease? As the facts sunk in, I felt even more depressed. I had flashbacks of my past, and for some reason it didn't even hurt me like it did before. I felt ten million times sorry for Emma, and I know how awful it must be for her. Especially since she doesn't even seem to realize he hurt her.

_Okay,_ I stopped myself. _You don't even know if that's true or not. _

But either way, I felt sorry for her. Eight months is a long time to be in the hospital for heart problems. Shrugging the thoughts away, I stared at the ticking clock, sitting impatiently in the chair as I watched everyone being called down the hall except for Anne and me. The minutes dragged by slowly, and at eleven-thirty one (at night, of course) the doctor finally came through the door of the hall and looked at us.

He smiled slightly and said, "You can come see her now."

___

**Okay, so sorry for leaving it there. I wanted to keep writing, but I needed to find a place to stop it. So, I hope you liked this chapter! Please review. I'll try to update really soon. Thank you to all my reviewers and everyone. Y'all are awesome :D**


	11. Author's Note!

**Okay, so I don't really like writing these author note things, and I know you probably don't like reading them, either. I'm gonna try to keep this short. So anyway, I have two things to talk about/ask you. OK, so 1- I haven't been getting a lot of reviews. (I'm not trying to complain or beg you for reviews) And I was just wondering, because I see that a lot of people have been reading it but no one really reviews. I've had this chapter up for a few days and I've only gotten a few reviews. I know people read it, so I just really am asking you if you would please review? I really just want to know what you think about it, even if you don't like it just let me know what you think?**

**And 2- So all you know that Ricky just saved Amy. I was thinking about like starting a new story(but it'll be the same story), and it'll continue with Amy at home and everything. Because the plot of this story is already finished and everything, saving Amy. I just wanted to know if you think I should just continue it all on the same story or start a new one?**

_-Allison_

_:D_


	12. Chapter 11

Finally, I updated. Sorry it took so long. Writer's block, I guess. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter,

So please review

:)

__

I was sitting in a chair at the corner of Amy's hospital room, waiting for her to wake up. I had been sitting here for three hours, listening to the silence and the quiet clicking noises of Amy's IV machine.

She was lying down in the bed, with her back turned towards me. I didn't even know when it happened, but I fell asleep; when I woke up, I looked up at the clock. It was six in the morning- about thirty minutes until the sun usually came up and Amy and we all might get to go home.

_Home._

The word echoed through my mind. What would it be like going back to our country? What would Amy be like? I couldn't even imagine what Adrian or Grace or even Jack might say. I've been here for a few months, but yet it's felt like a year. We've already missed about a month of school, but school was really the last thing on my mind.

I wondered what they would do about Amy, and if she would go back to school. I sighed, but it was a sigh of relief that this was all over with. I won't even mind going back to school and work at the Butcher shop.

My thoughts were interrupted when I heard Amy stirring in the bed. My eyes flickered over to her, and she turned around and stared blankly at the wall. She still looked pale, and her face was just as bruised and scarred as it was before. But she looked like some of her strength had returned to her.

She looked down at the IV in her arm and tried yanking it out, and I instinctively stood up and put my hand on her wrist. "No, Amy, you have to leave that in there."

She stared at me bitterly and frowned, but she said nothing. She looked determined to take out the IV, but seeing that I wouldn't let her, she gave up. I took my hand off of her and sat down at the edge of the bed.

"You feel better?" I asked.

Her eyes narrowed, and she lightly shrugged her shoulders. I sighed and tapped restlessly on the table beside the bed. I could feel Amy watching me, and my eyes glided back to her. I decided she wasn't going to talk to me, so I continued, even though I was probably just talking to myself. I didn't care. "You should be going home today."

She looked confused, and she mouthed the word _home. _She must be weaker than I thought. I nodded. "Yeah, if you're any better."

I stared down at the bed, but I immediately looked back up, surprised when I heard Amy speak quietly. "Are you going?"

My face was a question mark. "Going where?"

"Home." Her voice cracked, and she sounded like a completely different person when she talked. If I wasn't looking right at her, I wouldn't even recognize her voice.

"Um," I began, "I don't think so." She was looking at me with cold eyes, and I wasn't sure what the problem was. "I . . . I will stay with you for a little while when we get back to your house, but then I . . . I think I have to leave."

Like I hadn't even said anything at all, she scowled and said, "Then I'm not going."

"What?" I was confused.

"I'm not going home if you won't be there."

My heart fluttered, and I said softly, "I'll be there."

She suddenly looked relaxed, and then she rested back down on the pillow. I thought she wanted to sleep, so I started to get up, but I felt her hand on mine. Although she didn't have enough strength to actually pull me back down, I landed back anyway. It was like gravity was somehow pulling me down with her in spite of the rest of the world.

We sat still, gazing at one another for a moment until there was a knock at the door. I looked in that direction and didn't say anything, but the door opened and Amy's mom was standing there. She smiled slightly and walked to the foot of the bed.

"Hey, Ricky. Hey, Amy," she said, keeping her attention on her daughter. Amy just stared at her, unspoken. I wondered why she didn't say anything, because I knew she could talk even though it was hard for her.

The blond nurse then came in, with the doctor behind her. She walked over to Amy's mother and said, "We need to give Amy medicine, and see how she's doing this morning, and if she's strong enough to go back today. Do you mind . . . stepping out for a minute? It'll just be a few-"

"Of course," Anne said. She looked at me, and I followed her toward the door. I glanced back at Amy, and she was holding her hand up and reaching out her arm. Anne went out the door, and I stood in the doorway, still looking behind me.

"Ricky," Amy called, surprisingly loud, but uneven and scratchy. I opened my mouth to say something, but the dark-haired doctor was holding Amy down, and he gestured for me to get out of the room.

The door shut behind me, and I sighed and leaned against the wall opposite of the door. I stared down at my shoes. It was only a few minutes before the nurse was back in the hallway, smiling and gesturing for Anne.

_**Amy's POV**_

I didn't know why he kept leaving me. I was unsure of what was going on, but I did know one thing. It was more of a feeling, though, and that feeling was Ricky. It's the only feeling I have. I don't even know what it is. I didn't understand why he couldn't just stay with me, he had promised me that he would.

All this talk about leaving was stressing me out, and no one seemed to care about what I want. Some woman was coming in the room now. They say she's my mother, but I just don't remember. Sometimes I remember some things, but then I just forget them again.

I have all these memories in my head, memories and images of my past, but I don't recognize them as my own. They don't seem to fit; I can't put them together to mean anything. The girl with the blonde hair stretched out to me and smiled. She did something to my arm and this annoying bandage that was on it (there was a needle inside me). I didn't know why, but it's true.

"Okay, honey, I'm just going to take this out now," she said.

The bandage and needle ripped out of my arm. The pain was sharp, but it was bearable. I was used to it, but I couldn't remember why. The blonde woman turns to my _mother _who I don't remember, and she speaks softly. Too soft that I couldn't hear some of it. I strained myself to try to pick it all up, but it gave me a headache.

My head was pounding, and there was a ringing in my ears that made it impossible to hear anything clearly. ". . . seems better . . . stronger, but her memory isn't . . . not completely better yet . . . it will take time . . . but we think she'll be okay going as early as this morning . . . counseling . . . and someone to talk to . . . will definitely help her to have someone to talk to . . . she may have dizzy spells, and it will take a while before her memories return . . . " and I couldn't hear the rest.

"Thank you," my _mom_ said.

I lay back and didn't bother trying to keep up with them anymore. I heard the door open, and then someone else walked in and the door shut again. I saw him in the corner of my eye. _Ricky_. Why did I feel like I was so attached to him? Like I was a part of him? I didn't remember much about him, but I felt compelled to take on the challenge head on if he could be with me.

Instinctively, I shot up and I was glad that I didn't feel lightheaded. I held my arms out, and Ricky looked like he was hesitating about something, but he walked over to me.

_**Ricky's POV**_

Amy was staring at me, holding out her arms. I contemplated it for a second, but I sat down on the edge of the bed and put my hand high around her waist. She was sitting up. She looked stronger, but her face was still pale like it was taking every bit of energy for her to even sit up.

Erica, the nurse, turned to me and said, "Ricky, you can stay in here with Amy. We need her parents to fill out some paper work, and we're going to get her some medicine. You can all leave soon." She smiled.

"When?" I asked.

"It won't take long," she said, and then they both walked out of the room, leaving Amy and me in here alone. My breath caught in my throat when my eyes trailed down, and I saw the familiar cuts on Amy's legs and the scars and paleness of her body. I took a huge breath. "What do you remember?"

She was motionless for a minute, but then she barely shrugged her shoulders, which I probably wouldn't have noticed if I wasn't paying so close attention. "I don't remember anything," she said slowly. "The memories are there, but I don't remember them. Does that make sense?" She stops abruptly and her hand goes to her chest. "Ow."

I quickly situate her until she's lying down. Her breathing is rapidly increasing, like she's having trouble breathing. I ran my hand through her hair and tried to calm her down. "It's okay, Amy. Yeah, it makes sense. You're gonna be fine."

"Really?" she asked.

"Really," I said icily. "Of course you are." She seemed hurt by the coldness of my voice, so I continue rubbing her hair. "You'll be home soon, and then eventually everything will go back to normal." As I said this, I wondered if things could ever _go back to normal_.

"And you'll stay with me?" she whispered.

She was staring at me almost desperately, like it was hurting her to be away from me. I was worrying about her. "I'll stay with you," I said firmly, although I didn't feel right about it. What would Amy be like if I couldn't be there with her?

The door flew open minutes later, revealing Anne, George, and Erica in the doorway, with Ashley behind them. "Okay, well it looks like you're all ready to go," Erica said. "Ricky, help Amy up. We've already scheduled a plane for you last night, and you'll be boarding it in just a few minutes. So you'll need time to get to the airport, which is just across the street."

"Okay," I said.

I stood up from the bed, and hold my hand out for Amy to take it, but the nurse spoke again. "Oh, and you might need to carry her. Or her parents can. The medicine she took last night has made her really drowsy, and I don't know if she can walk."

I looked questionably at George and Anne to see if they wanted to carry her, but they didn't say anything. I reached down and gently gathered Amy into my arms. She wrapped her hand around my neck, and I weirdly had déjà vu. And then I remembered.

Adrian. _Okay, forget about her and concentrate on the current situation,_ I thought. I walked beside George, Anne, and Ashley down the hall and waiting room, and then we went down the long hall that led to the exit. The walls were nothing but glass windows, so we could see outside, and everyone else could see inside.

We walked across the street to the airport, and went inside a double door into a huge, crowded room, and I ignored all the stares people were giving me. Then I had another thought. "Where's John?"

"Don't worry. Ben's dad flew here last night, and they took John back with them. They called, and they've already made it home, so everything's fine. John's with Ben right now," Anne said.

We followed the trail across the airport down a concrete road, and we climbed the tall stairs to the plane, carrying only one bag with us- containing the only things that were allowed on the plane. Anne and George sat down in the middle of the plane, and I pushed past people and set Amy down by Ashley, who was sitting in front of Anne and George. But Amy wouldn't let go of my hand.

"I guess she wants to sit by you," Ashley said.

I grabbed Amy's arm and sat across a row of seats where the flight attendant directed us to. I put Amy by the window and sat down beside her, and she was immediately holding onto me. People were still walking around in the plane, and she looked around with fear like she was afraid of them.

Why was Amy afraid of everyone? _Except me._

She gasped me tightly when the plane took off, but she didn't seem to notice the plane. She was still looking around at everyone. She sighed and buried her head on my shoulder, and her arms were wrapped around my chest.

I didn't know what was wrong with me; I loved holding Amy. But for some reason, I pushed her off of me. She grimaced at me, and I said, "Amy, everything's okay. No one in here wants to hurt you. Go sit by your sister." It wasn't that I didn't want her to sit by me, but it just didn't feel right. She should be with her family now. I didn't want her to be scared of the world.

"You said you'd stay with me," she said firmly.

"And I will, but I can't be with you every second. Sometimes you have to get over you fear and just do it anyway. Go sit with your sister," I repeated. "She wants to see you. Your family wants to see you."

She shook her head, like she was disagreeing with me. "I don't care."

"Just go to sleep. We'll be home in the morning, then maybe your memory will come back to you," I said coldly. I leaned against the chair and turned my back towards Amy, and I heard her stirring beside me. I sighed and stared out the window across from me, remembering the night that I flew to Italy.

I remembered the promise that I made to myself- that if I found Amy, I would be different. I'd never be the way I was before. And I did feel different, but I just didn't know how long I could keep this up. But one thing I was still sure of, though, and I thought about it before I fell asleep. And I was sure of it- that I love Amy.

__

I heard the engine of the plane and jolted awake. It was completely dark, and I knew it must be night. Everyone was chattering, and then I realized that the plane was landing at the airport. We were in our country now. We were back in California.

I followed everyone out the plane when it landed, and I waited for Amy's parents and Ashley. Amy was walking by herself now- she looked better, stronger, but at the same time it was still evident how weak she was, and I knew she was just as weak on the inside.

We stopped in front of the huge white airport, and I saw someone beside a gray van waving to us. As we walked closer, I saw that it was Leo, Ben's dad. We came closer to him, and he told us to get in. We all got in, and Ben was in the front seat. John was in the back in his car seat.

He drove us back to Amy's house, and they stayed around for a few minutes- we were all standing around in the living room and kitchen talking. Well, actually, Amy and I were the only ones who didn't say anything.

"Amy, we're leaving now," I heard Ben say to Amy. "I love you. I'll see you . . . later." He leaned in to kiss her, but she turned her face away. He looked hurt. "Uh, sorry. Instinct... Um, bye." Ben followed Leo out the door, and they left.

"So, things are going back to normal now, aren't they?" Ashley grumbled.

"Ashley-" Anne started.

"No, I'm glad everything's fine now. I just . . ." She rolled her eyes. "Don't want to go to school." She went into the kitchen and helped Anne wash the dishes; George, Amy, and I were standing in the living room. George was only a few feet away from me, and I was holding John. But Amy was standing across the room, leaning against the wall.

"Ricky, for everything it's worth.. Thank you. Ames wouldn't be here right now if it wasn't-"

"I know," I cut him off. I didn't want to hear what he was going to stay next. I tried to ignore the look everyone had and the awful tension in the room. George looked like at any minute he would fall down and cry. I tried to keep him talking. "So, I guess I'll stay here tonight.."

"Yeah, I guess it's best that you do. You're the only one Amy seems to want anything to do with," he said coldly. "But don't make it a habit. Yet. We just have to take things one step at a time." He said sadly, paused and looked at Amy. "Are you hungry, Ames?"

She gave him a cold look, and I saw the pain flash through George's face. "I need to get out of here." He walked quickly into the kitchen, toward the front door, and yelled, "Anne, open the door!"

She ran to the door and opened it for him. He stood outside and yelled, "Now SLAM IT!"

She slammed it, and the burning tension building in the room sent a shiver down my body. I glanced over at the clock: 10:03 PM. I looked down at John, and he was sleeping, so I walked him to the nursery and put him in his crib. I looked around the familiar room, and hoped that things would finally start getting better. But it could very much be the opposite.

"What are you doing?" I jumped back when I heard Amy's uneven voice. I was _never_ going to get used to this: to her, and to the situation.

"Nothin'. This is John's room, if you don't remember. Do you want me to show you to _your_ room?" She flinched at the hatred in my voice. At first I didn't realize why I felt so crappy and why I was being so harsh to her, but then I understood. It was hurting me to see Amy like this, and being mean to her was covering up the pain that I felt.

But it didn't make it any better. I was crying in the inside, and I just wanted to curse and yell and break everything. I felt as breakable as I did when I thought about what happened in my past. We'd _both_ gone through abuse now. I didn't know if I could handle that if Amy ever did get almost normal again. I clinched my jaw together and, taking Amy by the arm, I led her to her bedroom. I got halfway in the room and winced when I heard the door slam shut. I quickly turned around. The air conditioner must have made it close.

"Okay, so you can go to sleep or whatever," I said.

Amy stood beside the bed with her arms folded together, and her familiar grimace was planted on her face. The familiar grimace that she had throughout her pregnancy and when John was born. But the scars and scratches over her entire body, and the confused look in her eyes told me that that Amy was gone.

"I don't understand what your problem is," she said bitterly.

I didn't say anything.

"Why do you all have to be in such a bad mood? Why are you all yelling and slamming doors and looking like at any second you're going to start crying?" she said. I scowled at her. I knew she had a reason to be in a bad mood, but what did she care if we all were? Apparently she didn't care. About anything.

"Because we're angry, Amy."

"Because of me? Is it my fault?" she whispered.

My teeth furiously grinded together. I had to fight to keep the tears back. "No!" I yelled. "It's not your fault! It isn't your fault that this happened to you. No one would choose for this to happen. Look, just go to sleep."

"I'm not tired."

"Would you just do as I tell you and go to sleep! Damn it, Amy! Don't you see that your family loves you? They know what's best for you, and I know what's best for you, so go to sleep! Maybe in the morning you'll remember something!"

She had tears pouring down her face. "But do _you_ love me?" she said, ignoring everything else I had said.

I was speechless and changed the subject. "Do you really not remember anything? Because the Amy I once knew would not be clinging to me like this."

She glared at me and folded her arms across her chest. It took her forever that I didn't even think she was going to answer. But I heard her say in a low, quiet voice, "The Amy you once knew is gone."

I looked at her. "I don't believe that." _So maybe I did, but I didn't want to._

I stared at her; she was pouting and scowling, bitterly looking away from me. This gave me a glance of the old Amy, how she was always angry and grimacing at me. I stepped forward and grabbed her arm. She looked up at me and immediately jumped back; but I didn't let go of her arm, and she didn't have the strength to pull away from me.

She had her eyebrows pulled furiously together, looking up over her eyelashes. For a minute I thought she would yell at me or try to snatch her arm away, but she surprised me by crying harder and hammering her head into my shoulder and wrapping her arms around me.

I was awestruck. But resolutely I held on to the back of her arm, with my other hand gently on her back. It felt weird, bewildering, strange, and so out-of-the-ordinary to have her so close to me, but more importantly, it felt right, even though she was bawling like she had just been jabbed in the heart with a knife.

And it took me a moment to realize that I was crying, too. The tears that I'd kept in for so long. I put my hand around the back of her neck, and I held her tight and kissed her hair and forehead. "_Shhh_. It's okay, Amy."

I pulled her only a couple of inches away from me and looked at her face. I ran my hand across her cheek and held it there under her chin, staring at her ghastly pale and scarred skin. She put her hand on mine, and I thought she was going to push me away, but she didn't do anything. She just left her hand frozen there.

I couldn't read her expression; it was lifeless. Another tear rolled off her face, and when she spoke her voice came just as lifeless as she looked. It was only a whisper, a broken, pleading whisper. "Hold me."

I didn't answer her. "You should go to sleep now, Amy."

"Here?" she pointed to her bed. I nodded and walked forward to it. I pulled back the covers for her, and she got in and lay in the middle of the bed, propped up on two fat pillows. I turned out the lights, and I sat up in the bed with her while she slept.

But I didn't sleep; I just held her.


	13. Author's Note

**A/N: I just wanted to say that I'm not through with this story. I know it's taking me a really long time to update, but I'm writing the next chapter right now, so hopefully I can get it up soon. I haven't had that much time lately.**

Just wanted to let you know that I'm still writing. And thank you to all my reviewers. :)

_-Allison_


	14. Chapter 12

Sorry it took so long. I'm ending this story soon, maybe one or two more chapters. Also I'm sorry if there's any mistakes. It's also a little rushed toward the ending, but it would've been so long if I were to drag it out.

I've just been so busy that I haven't had time, and that's why I want to finish this story since I've been writing it for so long. This chapter is also really intense. Just warning you.

Oh, at the beginning of this chapter, this is not the next morning, it's two days later.

* * *

Ricky's POV

I woke up early that morning. Amy looked like she was still asleep, so I got out of her bed and quietly slipped out the door. It was Tuesday morning, which meant we had school. Maybe I would skip today. _What's another day?_

I went into the kitchen and saw George and Anne standing in there with John. "Hey, Ricky," Anne said.

"Is she still asleep?" George asked.

"Yep," I said, picking up John.

"We have a therapist coming to the house today," George said.

For some reason, I responded harshly to that. I clinched my jaw and ignored his statement. They already had a nurse here; what was the point of a therapist when Amy wouldn't talk to anyone? "I'm taking John with me. I'll be back later."

"You better go to school," George said.

I looked at him for a moment, wondering why he would care. I knew he really didn't. "I'm not going today," I said through my teeth and walked outside, slamming the door, before they could say anything else.

And then I stopped when I got to the end of the pavement when I felt my phone vibrating. I carefully shifted John and then answered the phone without looking at the caller ID. "What?" I snapped.

"Ricky." It was Adrian. "Are- are you okay?"

"Does it sound like I'm okay?" he snapped, and sighed. "No, not really, Adrian. Physically, yes, but..."

She was silent for a few seconds. "What happened?"

"You know what happened," I said. "Everyone knows what happened! It's all over the news, and the entire city, I'm sure. I know you're all talking about it at school. Our school is like a magnet for gossip-"

"Aren't you going to school this morning?"

"No, I'm not," I said firmly, wanting no arguement from her.

"You were in Bologna?" she inquired, and I sighed, wondering when her questioning was going to stop. She already knew everything. "I mean, all this time? All this time you were in Bologna, Italy? Looking for Amy..."

"And John," I insisted.

"And Amy," she shot back at me. She paused.

"You should have never driven her to the airport, Adrian," he retorted.

"Excuse me? Or we still on this? Ugh. I was doing her a favor."

"No, Adrian, what you tried to do was willingly send Amy away so she wouldn't be with me alone this summer without Ben. But then Amy got into trouble, and we ended up being in the same place this summer. A small, small portion of the summer, yes, but still."

"How long..."

"She was in the hospital for a week," I said. "They had her...locked up in a room... It was the day they were auctioning...the slaves. Amy was..." he trailed off. "They shoved Amy into the back of their truck and dumped her into the lake. She immediately floated into the deep end. I swam in there and got here, almost suffering from hypothermia. I guess they thought I wouldn't go in after her, or else they wouldn't have let her go. They thought she'd die; she was already doped up on all the drugs they gave her. And she still isn't herself. She's still weak, from the drugs. She has amnesia, and whatever else. The doctors don't know whether it's permanent or not. Shall I go on?"

"No, that's good..." she said. "I was worried about you...We all were."

I shook his head. "No one was worried about me."

"Ricky-"

"No, Adrian," I growled. I took one look at John and then threw the phone down on the concrete, probably cracking the screen. I leaned down on the pavement and leaned against the house, the tears buried in my eyes. I set John down beside me, but I couldn't look at him.

I was surrounded by evidence. Evidence that I'd screwed up his life. I sabotaged a girl, created a baby, fucked over fifty girls, yet I couldn't see the good things. I only saw the bad. I hated myself, truly hated myself, and a few other people.

I hated, _hated_ what Amy had turned into. She'd turned into this girl who was sexually abused and probably raped dozens of times by multiple strange men, and hell whatever else they did to her...

I didn't even want to imagine the sight-although I had seen it, a very relaxed part of Amy being abused. I saw them doping her up, and yelling at her. Thankfully, I hadn't seen anything else.

Amy's POV

I heard the door shut. I looked around but Ricky wasn't there. I knew it. I knew he wanted to leave me. He promised he wouldn't. I sat up in bed, thinking maybe I wouldn't feel so lightheaded today, but I was wrong. I tumbled off the bed and fell to the floor, yelling, "Ricky!" But he was already gone.

Two people rushed into the room. The man picked me up by my arm and then set me back down against the bed. "Easy, Ames. Are you okay?"

I didn't say anything. I swear I'd never seen these people in my life. Why was I here? "Her memory's still not back, George," the woman said.

"Yeah, I know," he sighed. He looked at me again. "You go back to sleep, Amy. Maybe you can sleep this off." And then he went over to pick up the bottle of medicine that I had to take. I didn't know what it was and I didn't know why I had to take it. I actually hated when I took it. After about an hour it made me feel wrong.

The man gave me the medicine, and his words kept echoing through my mind.

_Maybe you can sleep this off. _But what exactly was _this_? Were they wanting me to remember them? How could I remember someone if I had never met them before? I didn't understand why everyone was acting so strange. They all acted sad.

But I knew that I hated staying here, mostly because of the fact they were depressed, and I didn't know them.

I just wanted _him._ I think I remembered his name a minute ago...but now it was gone. Who was he? I didn't know his name anymore, though I knew I remembered it a minute ago. But I had a feeling of him, and that was all. It made me feel comfortable and I felt attached to him.

They shut the door and I was alone again, I sat up in the bed, the blood rushed to my head, and I could feel my face get light and heavy at the same time. "Oh, god... Amy? _Amy?_" Everything was going black now. "Amy! What's happening? George, call the nurse." I couldn't see anything because my head was spinning.

And everything blacked out.

* * *

When Amy woke up, she looked up to see Ricky sitting on the bed, looking down at her as she lay against the pillow. She squinted, and looked around, and Ricky wondered if she was relieved that no one else was in the room. "Hey, Amy..." he said. Ashley had called and asked why he left. He told her that he just needed to be alone, but when she said she was worried about Amy he came back immediately.

Apparently Ashley had been staying in Amy's room with her and her memory was slipping away. She said that she mumbled something about Ricky, but she couldn't remember his name anymore.

The nurse was in the living room now-Amy went to the doctor yesterday- talking with George and Anne about Amy. Ricky was worried something else was wrong with her then just memory loss.

"Ricky," she finally said. He was relieved that she could remember him again. And that was strange to him. Why on and off was she remembering him and then forgetting him again?

"Hey. You remember me," he said.

She said nothing. She reached out her arm, and Ricky lay down beside her and put his arm around her. He gently touched her arm, carressing it slowly down her scars and the large, purple bruises. He looked at her face, bruises especially around her cheeks and below her eyes and chin. Then he caught something of her neck, and he slid her shirt barely down. "What the hell..." His cold hand shifted down to her neck and the blood burned in his veins. There were large bruises around her entire neck. There were bite marks. "Oh, god, Amy.."

She seemed to take his touching the wrong way. In a way too forced motion, as if she was being made to do this, she pressed her lips to Ricky's. Ricky kissed her for a second and pushed her away, and he looked in her eyes. "Get it over with," she said, and she shifted a little. She started taking her shirt off, and Ricky grabbed her wrist. "What are you doing?"

She said nothing. "Amy, I wasn't..." He trailed off, not knowing what to say or do.

"Well, I was," she said, and Ricky was unsure what she meant. Amy rammed her head into Rickys chest, very weakly. And she inched her body on top of his. Ricky froze underneath her. Amy grunted as she struggled to position herself on top of him, and then Ricky watched, not saying or making any movement, in awe, as she pulled one leg over and the other, and then she sat up and straddled him. Something went off in Ricky's head.

He grabbed Amy around the legs and then quickly moved from under her. He moved to the other side of the bed. "What are you-"

She grabbed him this time. She put her hand under his shirt. "Amy-" And she kissed him again. "Amy,what-" He pushed her away again and stood up this time.

She reached out to him, and then she scooted up in the bed, and as if she didn't even know the floor was there, she reached both arms out and almost rolled off the bed. Ricky caught her and grabbed both of her wrists. "Amy," stop," he said slowly. "_Stop_." She just stared at him. "It's me, Amy. It's Ricky. You know who I am. You wouldn't do this. I got you pregnant, I-"

"I know what you did," she said simply. "Now I wonder about what you're going to do."

"What?" Amy's words sent chills through his body.

She ignored him, and he stood up again and backed away, knowing for sure that Amy was gone forever. Whoever this girl was, was not Amy. She had no memories, or she didn't care, anyway. She was someone else now.

"Stop leaving!" she shouted, grabbing his arm. "That's all you ever do." Ricky was surprised. This was as much as she had talked to him in a long time. And she was angry. But Amy did have some memories, obviously, because she remembered Ricky leaving her. She remembered his name. He figured she was angry because that was an emotion she remembered from the way she was treated.

Amy glared at Ricky. "Fucking lie down and shut up," Amy said, and her eyes looked up at the ceiling as she talked, as if she wasn't seeing anything, as if she was reciting from memory. "It'll be over before you know it...and then you can go home."

_Nine weeks ago_

_"Fucking lie down and shut up!" the guy yelled at her, breaking a chair and struggling with the ties on the bed. He lay on the bed on top of her where she had to struggle just to breathe. They were both covered in her blood._

_He held a shot and tried to dig it into her arms. She tried with every thing she had to fight him out. She threw her hands out, moving and wiggling. She cried out. "Please, don't!" she cried, tears running down her face. He tore off her bra, the last piece of clothing she had on. _

_"I didn't want to have to do this," he said. "But it looks like I might have to." And he stuck the needle, the one that was fatal and would kill her in her sleep, in her hand, but she pulled it away immediately. She slapped him and tried rolling off the bed, but he put all of his weight on her and stuck the needle again in her arm, deeper this time. But she got away this time, again. He figured it was enough to kill her, and he threw the needle away. _

_"It'll be over before you know it," he told her. "And then you can go home." But Amy knew he was lying. He never let her leave. The medicine was kicking in--the recent one and the ones from earlier--and she began to close her eyes as the guy peeled off his clothing and forcefully assaulted her against her will. Amy tried to fight him off, as she did each time...and every time she lost. She pulled to the side a little, but he was way too strong. She whined and he slapped her across the face. "Would you shut up, you little bitch?"_

_The words hurt. But she wasn't going to do anything that would indicate that. She was so afraid--afraid when he did this to her--but even more afraid to stop because she knew he'd hurt her. but she did it anyway. She did it anyway, because she kept telling herself that she couldn't give up trying to escape. _

_"This won't hurt, honey," he said mockingly. Amy lifted her head barely to see what he was doing. _

_He was pulling something off the floor, not looking at Amy now, yet still crushing her as he lay on top of her body again, but Amy knew, yet not believed, that this was a chance to pull away. Although everytime she did it, she knew she wasn't going to get away. _

_So she shifted herself a little over, and she closed her eyes immediately when he snapped up. He dug something in her neck and she screamed out in pain. "Please don't," she cried. "Just don't use the needle! I'm okay. It's okay! I'm fine with it. Just don't use the needles. Please," she pleaded._

_He shook his head and said mockingly, "Now what on Earth would lead you to believe I would use a needle on you, baby? As long as you behave, I won't use the drugs on you."_

_Amy could feel an open cut on her neck, and it was deep, but she couldn't dare to open her eyes. And when he finally pulled out whatever it was he had dug into her, an awful pain escalated throughout her body and she allowed herself to yell. _

_"I warned you," he said._

_"No," she crooned, thinking to herself, 'What did I do?'._

_He picked up the chains off the floor and held Amy's arms against the bedpost. Her eyes shot open. He started to tie her hands to the chains, but she fidgeted frantically. "No," she groaned. "Please."_

_"Sh," he hushed her. _

_" I just want you to get it over with! And let me leave! I fucking hate this place! I hate you! I hate you! I hate all of you."_

_And she slapped him, an anger coming over her. _She _instantly regretted it. She cried out loud as she saw the look in his face."I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't-- I didn't mean to!"_

_"You shouldn't have done that. You could have been so happy here..."_

_He adjusted the chains on her hands, tightening them so much that it would cut off her circulation. Her wrists turned white immediately, and he tightened them again to where they were digging into her skin, blood rising to the top. ._

_She shook her arms that were tied up instinctively, although she knew that'd only make him more furious. "I warned you about that," he said again. "I warned you... you never listen." He shook his head, obviously high._

_And then he took another needle and dug it into her sensitive skin, and she cried. It was just one needle. She was used to them now, so used to them that sometimes they wouldn't even knock her out. Sometimes she could stay awake, but they made her feel so high and she was disgusted with herself.  
__  
She hated herself._

_Amy squeezed her eyes shut, but she squeezed them hard so she could keep herself awake. She didn't want to pass out, because then he might do something to her that she wouldn't be consciously aware of. And then she cried silently as he bit her neck hard and tore her skin. _

_When it was over, Amy kept her eyes closed, pretending to be passed out, until she knew no one was in the room. And then she opened her eyes. and she stared at the wall for hours...feeling like she was in an asylum._

_She shook her head. And weakly, as if she was sleepwalking, only not asleep, she got up and walked down the hall. Just to see her friend... to see if she was okay... There were hundreds of rooms on both sides of the long, endless hallway, that led to the auctioning room once you finally got to the end...where Amy had never been, but many of the girls had because they'd been here longer than she had. Amy looked in some of the rooms, and some of the girls sat still and lifeless in the bed...and she knew they were lifeless. She knew they were dead; either the men abused her so much that she died of blood loss, or they died of the drugs, finally... _

_There was a drug, a certain one.. that they'd give them sometimes.. that would end their lives if they weren't good enough to be auctioned. Sometimes they would give it to them just because the girls pissed them off. Its main purpose was to erase the memories slowly before killing the girl._

_Amy'd receieved half of the injection that night, and she was terrified to sleep because she knew it was supposed to kill you while you were unconscious. _After the men found out that Amy hadn't died from the drug, they continued to abuse her until selling her. They knew she had a baby, and that was one of the reasons they lusted her so much.

_This was nothing Amy wasn't used to. She was used to seeing dead bodies, dead bodies of some of her friends that she'd made..._

_And she didn't want to be used to this, however._

_As she stepped in her friend's room, she saw her body lying there in the bed, white and cold. She was dead._

_But Amy was so weak and pale that she didn't cry. She was sad, but she wasn't surprised. Amy walked lifelessly and very slowly down the hall. She knew her face looked like a white piece of paper or a ghost. She knew there were large circles around her eyes and scars all over her body and neck and face. And she even knew that she was bleeding after being raped, but not for the reason she was supposed to bleed. She hadn't menstruated normally, and she knew something was wrong with her. She was twenty days late. She'd never been late a day in her life._

_But she didn't do anything; there was nothing she could do. There wasn't even a bathroom here, and if there were she knew she wasn't allowed to go in there._

_There was one place she was forced to go to: her bed, where she was raped and talked badly to and cut and injected with needles while tied up._

_The hallways weren't exactly off-limits, because during the night the men usually didn't walk down the hall. The place was so big, anyway; there were six hallways, which equaled to six hundred rooms and even more than six hundred slaves._

_There were some places Amy simply wouldn't go in before, but now she was more used to it--the hallways across the wall--because dead bodies lie on the floor there. Amy was never surprised to see a dead body._

_She walked slowly to her room and passed out when she stood at her bed, the last thought before she passed out being how she wondered if she would ever wake up..._

Amy stared coldly at Ricky. "I just want you to let me leave! I fucking hate this place! I hate you! I hate you! I hate all of you!" she cried.

"_Amy!"_ Ricky yelled, terrified. "Stop."

She looked at him now, and her eyes were red. Ricky knew Amy's parents were probably on their way up now. Ricky froze again as she undressed herself fiercely. Ricky stood up. He knew she wasn't acting like this on purpose; she was acting like this because it was truly all she remembered.

Amy got down to her bra when her parents trampled into the room, and Ricky grabbed her. "Stop it, Amy!" he yelled at her. "What the hell are you doing!" And her face got pale as she saw her parents walk in, and when she looked at the floor, it drew closer toward her and the blood rushed to her head. Ricky grabbed her as she almost fell.

Anne and George raced to the bed as Ricky carefully set her down. Amy was still conscious, but her face was as white as a sheet. "George, call the nurse in here now, get an ambulance!" Anne said hurriedly to George as she leaned over Amy. George ran out of the room to get the nurse from the living room, leaving Ricky and Anne to stand over the bed beside Amy.

Something caught Ricky's eye, and he turned around and saw Amy's medicine lying on the table. He eyed it suspiciously, but he shrugged off the concern when the nurse came into the room. "What happened?" she asked Ricky, walking over to stand beside Anne who was standing over Amy.

"She just passed out," he said. "I don't even know..."

George came back into the room after calling the ambulance, and the four of them stood over Amy, staring at her pale face. Ricky hesitated but then directed a question to Anne and George, "Are you still giving Amy that medicine?"

George looked at him, his eyebrows furrowing. "Yeah, so?"

Ricky ignored him and picked up the bottle and looked for the ingredients. There wasn't even a label. "Did you take the label off or something?" he asked.

"No," George said. "There isn't supposed to be one. It's a special kind of medicine."

Ricky shook his head, George obviously in denial. "There would be a label."

"What are you trying to say?" he snapped.

"I'm trying to say that the doctor in Italy didn't give Amy the right medicine," he said. "Why would she need medicine, anyway? Think about it. Some drug isn't gonna make her get her memory back. It's probably making it worse, actually."

George didn't say anything, not believing Ricky's theory. "She was fine last night before she took this medicine," Ricky went on. "And then you gave it to her this morning?"

He nodded.

"And then her memory was worse," he continued. "Just minutes after taking it. Ashley was in here with her, and she called me and said Amy was forgetting things. She was weaker and although she remembered some things, I know she didn't have a clue who I was. She started saying stuff, like she was just repeating it as if she'd said it before or someone had said it to her."

"Ricky, Amy was injected with some drug. It's making her very weak... This is a prescription medicine--"

"Then it would have a label on it!"

The nurse turned to George. "He could be right," she said. "Prescriptions always have labels on them. I don't know why a doctor would want to her the wrong medicine, but you should immediately get Amy off of it. Just see what happens."

"And what if she dies?" George asked.

"George!" Anne yelled.

"She will be fine without the medicine for a day. Just don't give it to her tomorrow and see what happens, George. We want Amy to get better, and Ricky could be right," the nurse continued. And then George and Anne left the room after the nurse needed to talk to them again, and Ricky was worried again.

Ricky bent down beside the bed, holding Amy's hand, and he brushed her hair back once they were alone. "You're going to be fine, Amy," he whispered. She smiled weakly at him, and he took that as a good sign. She closed her eyes, and when Ricky thought she was asleep he whispered, "I love you."

* * *

In the living room, Anne and George were both sitting uncomfortably on the couch while the nurse was in the lounge chair. What they didn't know was that Ricky was in the hallway listening in. "So you're trying to say the hospital staff in Bologna were trying to kill her?" George asked angrily.

"I wouldn't have put it that way," the nurse said, "but maybe. All evidence points to that. I looked at the medicine, and it looks similar to something I've seen before. I think it's a medicine that purposely is supposed to erase memories, temporarily at first, until it becomes stronger and permanently makes the consumer forget. That's why I've asked you to stop giving it to her immediately."

She hesitated but continued, "I am sorry about all you've been through. As soon as the ambulance gets here, I'm sure they'll stabilize her once she's at the hospital. She'll be in a healthy condition. But there is something else we should talk about."

"What?" I heard Anne say. Ricky could almost hear their nerves radiating across the room.

"I don't know how to say this," she began, "but Amy has Syphilis, which is a sexually transmitted disease. It is curable if treated soon enough, and we're putting Amy on medicine immediately." I closed my eyes and leaned back against the wall. I wanted to kill someone. "It's spread through sex, blood, or the bacteria could've gotten in through her cuts. Maybe all of these, we're afraid to say. But _it is_ curable."

George sighed an exasperated sigh before finally speaking. "And what about her memory? The 'doctors in Italy, the freaking abuse capital of the city, said she didn't have amnesia! Did they lie about that as well? What's wrong with her? Why is she always so weak?"

"Well,today she was weak because of the medicine you gave her this morning. But also, when Amy was at the hospital yesterday we found another drug, along with many other injections, in Amy's blood stream. She was injected with it while in Italy, and its purpose is to kill the person. But, however, Amy hasn't been injected with the whole medicine, but it's still in her blood stream and that's what we're worried about. That may be the cause of some of her memory loss, but along with that, Amy _does_ have amnesia of some type. She has memories of her accident, as you recall, and-"

"Why does she only remember Ricky?"

"I don't think she really remembers him," she explained. "It's like he's in the back of her head, and he's more of a feeling than he is a memory. Does that make any sense?"

"She does remember sometimes," George said. "Ricky said sometimes she remembers some things. Why is that?"

"I think Amy sometimes gets a few memories back, but she can't recognize them as her own. I believe this to be temporary, and after getting her off the drugs and back into shape and into the routine again, I believe she'll recover."

"She'll never be herself again, though?" Anne asked.

The nurse paused. "No," she said quietly. "I've seen how this thing works, when girls are held hostage as sex slaves. A lot of them die and the guys that take them in mess them up pretty bad. If they make it out, which usually they don't because they're sold, then they don't go back to theirself. ..She'll never be herself again."

They would have continued, but they heard the ambulance sirens. They all hurried Amy into the vehicle and to the hospital, where they stabilized her for the night.

* * *

The next night Amy was back at home in her room and Ricky was in the living room with her parents and Ashley. He was about to get up to see Amy, but he heard her footsteps coming from the hallway. They all turned around to look at her walking up slowly, stopping in the doorway.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly, tears in her eyes. "I just want to love you. I want to love you all, but I can't remember..."


	15. Chapter 13

The next chapter will be the epilogue, the last chapter.

Oh and I want to apologize for the last chapter. I realize how horribly written it was and how constantly it switched from first to third person. I'm really sorry about that. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter! Don't forget to review.

* * *

"I can't. I know I can't do it," Amy rambled as she stood in the doorway of John's room with her mom and Ricky behind her. Amy had slowly been through recovery for four weeks, taking antibiotics that had already cured her for Syphilis, and she'd only been back in the United States for five weeks.

She currently wasn't taking any medicine now, but recovering naturally, though her memories were still not returning to her, but the doctors had already known that it would be a long, tedious process and everyone would just have to wait and see.

"Yes you can, Amy. Just go in there and hold your son," Anne pleaded. "There isn't any reason to be afraid."

Anne watched as Amy flinched at the words 'your son', and she turned to face Ricky. "I think Amy would rather be alone with you. I'll be in the other room if you need me."

Ricky nodded. It was a Saturday evening, and Ricky had been going back to school now. Amy still had not returned to school, but Ricky got her schoolwork for her and brought it to her every day of the week. Ricky was surprised when he found that Amy could still do her work, she could still work Math equations, and those memories hadn't been lost.

But that was only at the beginning. As they went on every day, and Ricky helped her with her work, he began to see Amy's restlessness and disability to concentrate for a long period of time, although she could still do it. She would sometimes get angry, throwing the books down and just screaming.

Amy would talk more now, but she would still have her silent moments where Ricky wondered if her memories had slipped away further—but a part of him also wondered if maybe they had actually completely come back to her...

But it was getting more difficult to tell now, and her actions were spontaneous. Some days she was in a good mood, though lost, while others she would cry all day.

Ricky was practically living in the house with Amy and her family now, because John was there, and he worried about Amy. But also because even if he tried to take John away now, Amy would break into a fit of yelling and crying, and Ricky didn't know why.

Amy was afraid of John, afraid to hold him, and she didn't know who he was. But she didn't want him taken away from her.

Ricky also worried if Amy would ever remember people again, or her life. He worried what John's future would hold for him if Amy never did recover. She would get better, the doctors said, but she'd never completely return to herself again.

There were nights where Ricky knew Amy was having a nightmare because she would wake up, screaming, and then just cry, but she would never say anything about it. Ricky could guess what those dreams were about, though.

Ricky was still waiting for a sign...still waiting for a sign that Amy was still inside that confused and lost girl.

He found himself slowly walking behind Amy, wrapping his arm around her back. "Everything's okay, Amy," he reminded her. It was one step at a time. Holding her hand, he walked inside John's room, with her hesitating behind him.

He carefully picked John up out of his bed, holding him in his arms. "There's no reason to be afraid," he told her gently, turning around to face Amy. "Just...look at him, Amy," he whispered to her desperately, reaching for Amy's arm. Hesitantly, she held her arms out and let Ricky gently place John in them.

Amy held John stiffly, looking down at him blankly. "What am I supposed to do with it?" she asked, and Ricky wanted to cry.

He swallowed the lump in his throat. "_Remember,_" he whispered.

"I-I don't know who this child is," she stuttered.

"Amy, you cry when I try to take John away from you, but you tell me you don't know who he is. Why is that?"

"Because I feel like I have to take care of him. I don't know why... I don't know much."

"When you look at me," he said unsteadily, "what do you see?"

"Life," she answered immediately, and Ricky met her eyes. "I see life through you, freedom, safety. Yet I don't know who you are."

"Do you trust me, Amy?"

She handed John back to him, and he took John and placed him back in his bed. Ricky wrapped his arm around her waist and shut the door behind them. "Yeah," she whispered finally. "When I see you..." she whispered. "I want to get better. My heart aches, but it's on fire...And then for a second, I almost think I remember something. I think I've _got to remember something._ But there's nothing there but this burning...passion."

He swallowed again, feeling closer to Amy already, feeling like he was a step closer to her, but two steps farther away. _One step forward, two steps back. _His therapist had always stressed that you can not love anyone until and if you love yourself.

But what if, Ricky thought to himself, what if he had it backwards, and you cannot truly love yourself until you have opened your heart up to someone else?

"When I look at you, Amy," he spoke almost with dignity, "I want to be different."

"Define different."

"Better," he answered. He thought he saw a glimpse of someone in his peripheral vision, but when he looked off in the distance down the hallway, he saw no one there. Through John's bedroom door he could hear John softly breathing, and he noticed how it seemed to calm Amy.

"When I was driving in Italy, driving to find you," he spoke fast so she wouldn't have time to get upset, "I swore to myself that if I did end up finding you I would never be the same. When I'm with you I actually believe that maybe I can keep that promise...but you have to work with me, Amy."

"Tell me what to do."

He wasn't actually sure, himself. "Just...continue trusting me."

She nodded, and Ricky led her down the hall, quietly walking as to not wake her parents, and Ricky held her hand, swinging their arms as he opened the door—something flashed in Amy's mind for a split second—and he shut the door until they were outside. "It's okay," he told her, and Amy's mind flashed again.

"Maybe we shouldn't be out here," Amy said hesitantly. "I don't want to get into any trouble."

"We're not going to get into any trouble," he told her. "What's wrong?"

Something was familiar, she thought, but not the same. She shook her head. "Nothing," she whispered. "It's just cold."

Amy allowed him to hold her hand, and with his thumb he traced across the scar on the palm of her hand.

"Do you wanna go back inside?" he asked.

For whatever reason she nodded, and Ricky carefully pulled her back inside the house. The living room was pitch-black dark, and as Ricky led Amy back down the hall to her bedroom, he hadn't noticed that George had been in the living room listening to them talk.

Ricky stepped inside her room, and behind him he heard her shut the door. He turned around, quickly looking at her but then turning back around to look at the books on her desk. "Do you want to do homework?"

She said nothing, so he took that as a no. It was completely dark in the room, and the only light came from the glistening light of the moon above her window.

Ricky didn't know what he was thinking when he said this: "Amy, do you want to come to my apartment?"

Her eyes pulled away from out the window to look at him. "What?"

"Maybe it'll bring back some memories," he explained. "Chances are it won't, but it's worth a try."

She stared at him for a while saying nothing, and Ricky had already opted that she didn't want to go, but his face lit up when he heard her agree: "Okay."

* * *

Nothing about his apartment was familiar to her. She looked around, trying to search for the memories that were buried deep in her head. While Amy was examining the kitchen and its yellow walls, walking slowly into the living room and down the hall, Ricky found his note still sitting on the counter.

The note he had written to Adrian because he knew she'd come here looking for him.

There was another note sitting beside it. He sat down in the small stool and read it to himself at the table.

_Ricky, I know you never come here very much anymore but I know eventually you have to. I didn't have the nerve to call you because I know you don't really want to talk to me, so I just thought I'd write you a note._

The handwriting became sloppier.

_This is morbidly difficult for me to write, but I'm having Ben's baby. Actually, I'm not sure if I will have the baby..._

His heart stopped once he read that and his mind was in a fog, but he continued reading.

_It was when Ben came back here from Italy, and he was pretty upset. He'd already deciding that he was never getting Amy back, just like I know I'm never getting you back. I'm not going to bother you anymore, but I do hope we can be friends or at least acknowledge each other._

_I do love you, Ricky, and I hope you know that. But for the first time I've realized that things have happened the way they have for a reason._

_I'm sorry,_

_Adrian._

He dropped the letter on the table and put his face in his hand, holding back tears—because of Adrian, because of Ben, and because of Amy. It wasn't the fact that Adrian was probably with Ben, but just that Ben had gotten her pregnant and that Adrian _allowed_ him to get her pregnant.

He stood up, knowing there was nothing he could do. He'd chosen this life as soon as he went after Amy to save her—actually, he'd chosen this life even before that, when he had gotten her pregnant at band camp, even if he didn't realize it then.

Ricky walked down the hall, finding Amy sitting on his bed motionlessly. Sadness swept across her face as she realized that she couldn't remember any of this. "What's wrong?" Ricky asked her gently, standing across from her at the end of the bed.

"I...I don't... remember," she whispered slowly, "_any _of this..."

"Nothing's familiar?"

She shook her head.

"It's okay, Amy," he said. "I didn't expect you to. It'll come back to you eventually..."

She said nothing as she stood up, walking to the window where the moon was visible again, no matter where they were in the world.

He watched as Amy stood at the window and looked at the moon, and something about that was significant, but he didn't know why.

Amy had always liked to look at the moon...Especially when she was pregnant or if something bad was going on. It gave her hope that somehow everything would be okay, that things wouldn't stay the same forever, even though the moon would stay forever.

Ricky could see the sudden light in her eyes as he made his way toward her. "Amy," he whispered, standing next to her. He couldn't comprehend what he was about to do, but at that moment he didn't care. "I love you."

Amy merely stared at him, unsure of how to respond. Ricky didn't expect her to reciprocate tonight, and that was okay. Ricky completely approached her, his face inching towards her. She locked eyes with him, and he was afraid this would upset her.

But she didn't pull away.

His lips met with hers gently and he brushed his hand against her neck as she kept her mouth molded to his. He pulled her close before moving away, looking at her reaction. She was completely still as she knew that memories had to flood back to her any second now, but time after time they wouldn't.

Their lips met again over and over, sending chills through her body that almost felt better than memories. She felt secure and close to him, and at that moment she was sure that he somehow understood what she was going through.

She wondered how he could love her when she was like this, this constant unstable girl, but she was grateful that he claimed he did.

She let Ricky lead her to his bed, and she sat down beside him. He kissed her on the forehead, and she kissed him on the lips, brushing her hand over his cheek and his neck. And she had to ask the question she was so curious about: "Did I love you before?"

He was silent for a minute. "No."

"What made you love me now?"

He didn't know how to answer, so instead he didn't respond to her question. "I just want to ... forget things tonight," he said painfully as the thoughts from the past year caught up with him repeatedly, and then the letter. It was too much for him to take in all at once. "I want to forget like you have."

She was confused. "Why?"

"Because tonight I don't want you to be afraid. I don't want you to worry about anything, and I don't want to worry about anything. Don't you trust me, Amy?"

"Yes."

He leaned over and kissed her, knowing this wasn't right but wanting it anyway. Amy seemed to as well, and he didn't know if she'd be okay with it if she had her memory. But right now, this was Amy. And Amy wanted him more than she wanted to live.

Amy's heart ached for him. She parted her lips, allowing him entrance, and his hands brushed against her top, pulling the shirt over her head. He traced the scars below her bra and around her neck, and then he reached up to pull his own shirt off.

Amy watched in curiosity as he carefully—and skillfully—reached his hand behind her back to undo the clasp. Her bra fell to the floor, and Ricky moved her to the center of the bed. "Are you okay?" he asked.

She only nodded, and he pulled his jeans off, reaching for Amy's zipper. He looked into her eyes, how she was smiling at him, and he also noted how she didn't appear nervous. Amy, too, looked experienced at this, and Ricky almost shuddered away from that.

But he didn't.

He made love to her, and his kisses and the chill that ran through Amy's body were almost better than memories. She felt every worry and pain that she had slowly disappear—temporarily, anyway—and as Ricky kissed her one more time and then started to move to lay down beside her, she reached up so he would stay frozen there on top of her.

And she could have sworn as she ran her fingers through his hair that she remembered something, that she'd felt this before, but still she couldn't recall the reason to the familiarity. Instead she whispered, "_I love you_."

"I love you too," he mumbled against her neck. Amy watched him as he leaned away and walked into the bathroom.

She sighed contently, pulling the blanket over her. But when she heard the front door open in the distance, her heart immediately jumped in her chest. Ricky quickly came out of the bathroom, and Anne stood in the doorway of Ricky's bedroom, staring at shirtless Ricky who was only wearing jeans.

"I'm sorry," she said. "Your door was unlocked so I—"

She stopped abruptly when she saw Amy for the first time, lying in Ricky's bed with her bare arms exposed. She looked back at Ricky again and instantly regretted walking in on this.

Ricky looked solemnly at her, wondering what she would say. "_I'm _sorry," Ricky apologized. "I ... I left it unlocked because I wasn't planning on staying here very long ..."

"Guess you changed your mind quick enough," she mumbled.

He tightened his jaw, looking at Amy. Her expression was blank, as if she was completely unaware that she had done anything wrong. Anne sighed, exasperated, and Ricky looked back at her again.

"_Amy_," she said, her voice edgy.

"What?"

Then she gave up and turned around and marched out of the room. "I'll be right back," Ricky told Amy, following Anne down the hall, but then quickly turning back to grab his button-down shirt that was sitting on the floor.

He slowly walked back down the hall once his shirt was on and joined the outraged Anne in the living room. She glared at him immediately. "Ricky, she doesn't even know who you are! What were you thinking?"

He shook his head. "Ms. Juergens, I'm sorry. I...don't know what I was thinking. I guess I wasn't."

"Well I can agree with you there! Imagine what I'm gonna have to tell George!" she snapped quietly. "He's gonna flip."

"I'm really sorry," he repeated. "I know I shouldn't have brought her here … I know it was wrong. I was just hoping maybe bringing her to my apartment would help spark some memories—"

"And sleeping with her?"

"I didn't plan that. And I wasn't expecting you to barge into my apartment."

"I just needed to tell you something. _I_ wasn't expecting to walk in and find my confused daughter naked in your bed! I guess I should have been expecting it, but I wasn't..."

"What'd you need to tell me?"

She rolled her eyes and mumbled, "Selective hearing." Then she continued, "It's kind of been obvious for a while, but we just got a call from the police in Italy. A certain nurse there was supposedly promised a lot of money to sell Amy that drug—"

"I know what nurse you're talking about," he furiously cut her off. It was the nurse that was so mean to him at the hospital in Italy.

"You do?"

"Yeah ..."

She furrowed her eyebrows as she realized that he wasn't going to elaborate and continued. "Well, she was arrested."

"And what about all the slaves? Are they okay now?"

"I don't know much, but the police said that most of them are in the hospital now, and for the others..."

"What?"

"Well, some of them were dead by the time they got there..." She trailed off, changing the subject. "I guess I'll be going now...and so will you and Amy." She sighed, walking over to wait at the door.

"I could drive her back...," he said hesitantly. "Or..."

"Or you could stay here with her? No."

"I wasn't going to say that," he insisted, though he really had thought about saying it. "I just meant that I have a car so I can drive Amy back if you want me to. It's no big deal..."

"We'll all go in the same car. There's no reason to take two, unless you plan on coming back here."

He nodded, exiting the room, and Anne stood there waiting and wondering exactly what he was going to do since he didn't say. He found Amy still sitting in the exact same spot on his bed, only wearing clothes now.

He swallowed before smiling lightly at her. "Are you ready to go?"

Her eyebrows slightly pulled together, but she moved off the bed and walked to his side. "What happened?"

"Nothing," he answered, knowing he couldn't explain to her right now why her mom was mad at him. "Nothing happened at all. I guess we should go back now, though..."

"Sure." She threaded her fingers through Ricky's and followed him out the door with Anne. Ricky was silent, slightly embarrassed that Anne had to find out like that.

Other than that, though, he wondered if what he had done was selfish because of the fact that Amy was so oblivious. But this was the first time Ricky had seen Amy truly smile in a long time, so quite frankly, he didn't care.


	16. Chapter 14

So this is basically the last chapter, but there will be an epilogue which will be the final conclusion. I'm sorry for any mistakes; I didn't have time to edit much of it.

* * *

Anne decided not to jump immediately into telling George about Ricky and Amy. By the time the ten minute car ride was over Anne had already cooled down enough to think over this rationally. She felt like Ricky had taken advantage of Amy and the situation.

George had been suspicious when they got home, but Anne simply replied that nothing was going on when he asked. And Ricky silently walked the hall with Amy.

Ricky could hear Anne's faint mutters to George, but he trusted that she wasn't telling him what happened. As he made it halfway down the hall with Amy behind him, Anne came trudging down the hallway. Ricky stopped and faced her reluctantly.

"I hope you're happy," she said a little bitterly. "George knows something's going on...He just doesn't know what. But he's very suspicious."

Ricky didn't know where he found the prolong assertiveness: "It doesn't really matter. This is mine and Amy's business; can't we just leave George out of this?"

"Ricky—"

"Look, I know. I'm sorry. I don't mean to offend anyone."

"But in the process, you do," she mumbled before walking off.

Amy stared at Ricky for a long moment as he stood frozen and staring off into space. What was wrong with everyone?

"Amy, I'm sorry," Ricky finally said.

Her eyebrows furrowed as she stared at him with confusion. Finally she forced out a whisper: "Why?"

"Because what I did...was wrong."

"How?" Her forehead creased. "What...what did I do—"

"Nothing, Amy. It was me—I shouldn't have taken advantage of you like that."

Like she'd been slapped in the face, she flinched. "You didn't!"

Ricky slept on the couch that night because Amy was slightly mad at him and he didn't want to upset her more. He'd been sleeping on the couch most nights, anyway, but now he had felt like tonight was different...

* * *

The following week was mostly silent. Amy had said no more than a few words to him, and even if Ricky tried to talk to her she would simply nod or pretend like she hadn't heard him.

It was a Friday morning and Amy's parents and the doctors had decided that Amy should be well enough to go to school. They suggested that she go on a Friday so if the day didn't go so well she'd have the whole weekend.

Ricky was worried that Amy would still ignore him today, today of all days, and wouldn't let him help her. He was fed up now though, and he didn't want that to happen. So in order to avoid it, he walked into Amy's room to find her standing and staring blankly in front of the open closet.

"What are you doing?" he asked gently.

She didn't even flinch, and he was certain that she wouldn't respond. After turning around to walk out and give up already, he heard her speak in a low voice. "These aren't my clothes..." She said it almost as a question.

"Yes they are, Amy," he told her, turning around to face her. It was the first time she was picking out her own clothes. She said nothing, so he slowly walked towards her until only an inch separated them. Finally, Ricky ran a hand through Amy's hair. "Amy, I want to help you. Please don't shut me out..."

She let him pull his arms around her into a hug, even hugging him back.

Though they had barely spoken, Ricky was hoping things were okay with them now. Ricky drove Amy to school after promising her parents that he would watch out for her, and when he parked into the parking lot he thought about the messed up irony of the situation.

Ricky stopped the car and got out, opening the door for Amy and reluctantly taking her hand. She looked around, and for an instant Ricky wondered if anything looked familiar, but her face changed, and he saw that she was completely lost.

She looked around, taking in all of her surroundings, but underneath the physical image lay a darker fear buried inside Amy, a fear that went beyond just being scared of something. It was like being in a completely new place, and no matter what—no matter how hard she tried—she couldn't come back to that place of familiarity, of remembrance. Of being home.

Ricky carefully slid one arm around the small of her back, hesitant as he touched her. To Ricky, her skin felt like ice even through her clothes, like her fear was radiating through her soul. But it made him wonder if really it was he that was cold. Maybe the truth was that he was just as scared as she.

Once the doors of Grant High School were closed behind them, the eyes of each student were suddenly on Amy and Ricky, and all attention was planted on them. Ricky tried not to look around the room, making a beeline with Amy next to him down the hall and past the students.

He noticed how most of the people backed up when they passed them down the hall. Ricky looked around at the lockers now, knowing that he didn't know his—if he even had one—since he hadn't even been at school at all for eleventh grade. Amy hadn't been at all for tenth grade.

Immediately, Ricky headed for the counselor's office, finding a new counselor sitting in the tall seat behind the desk than Mr. Molina. "Uh, excuse me," he said in a low voice. The counselor was a woman with dark black hair and a tough face, wearing a uniform. On her name-tag was printed the name _Dr. Bink_.

"Can I help you?" she said sarcastically.

"Yeah...," he said hesitantly, wondering what to ask exactly, what he needed help with. "I need...mine and Amy's locker number."

"What is this? Can the girl not speak for herself?" she accused, raising an eyebrow.

Ricky tightened his jaw and didn't respond, trying to remain temperance. Dr. Bink rolled her eyes and shook her head, pulling out a folder, where she finally told Ricky the locker numbers. He nodded and headed immediately out of the office and down the hall.

His locker was the first he reached, where Amy's was down the hall. He started to say something to her, but she walked off and headed to her locker without letting Ricky say anything, without letting him help her. "This isn't a good idea," Ricky mumbled to himself. "I knew it wasn't a good idea..."

The first day back at school was rough for both Ricky and Amy. Ricky followed Amy around between classes, offering to help her, but each time she bitterly replied that she didn't need any help. The weekend went by quickly and Amy was slowly beginning to warm back up to him again.

The next week of school passed with the same amount of process—which wasn't much. The stares continued, people asked questions, they assumed things. But unfortunately things were a lot more complicated than they appeared.

It was a dark, rainy Friday night tonight, and Ricky dreaded the week to come at school. Amy was growing more and more impatient with her work, and teachers even called and complained. She was better at school than at home, though; she outburst into a fit when Ricky tried to work on homework with her.

He had finally thought he had broken through her anger, but the night at his apartment seemed not to affect her anymore. She said nothing about it and barely acted any different than she had before it happened.

Lost in his thoughts, he shook his head and sighed, walking down the hall because he didn't know what else to do. He _wanted_ to connect somehow to Amy. He really did. But any time Amy's parents tried to get close to her, she'd flinch and get away quickly in frustration.

It was like she was growing more and more angry as the days wore on, so silent that it was unbearable. The silence was driving Ricky crazy to the point he wanted to get away from this house.

He reached Amy's room, where she lay perched on her bed with her arms rested stiffly at her sides and her lips tightly pursed together. As Ricky stepped partially in the doorway—the door was only halfway open—, Amy didn't even look up to acknowledge he had entered the room.

Taking a deep breath, Ricky said in a low voice, agitated, "Amy."

Nothing.

"Look at me."

Again, nothing.

Ricky was fed up. He kicked the door open, despite the fact that everyone else in the house was sleeping. "Dammit, Amy! I can't take this anymore!" he growled, the words pressing thick against his throat.

She looked at him now after his outburst, but her face was solemn and full of almost contempt or annoyance. "I _get_ that you've had a hard time, and I even understand that you're scared or hurting or whatever. But I can't take this silence, Amy. The _minute_ that I finally think that I've gotten through to you, you cut me off! You shut everyone out, and I—I don't know why! Why do you not _want_ anyone to help you? Why do you act like you can't remember the other night?—because I know that you do!" He paused and said quietly, "I want to take John, Amy. I wanna take the baby."

The words broke her heart—that Ricky could actually want to take something away from her, something so important though she doesn't know who he was, and really couldn't comprehend that this baby was actually hers and Ricky's.

"I can't keep staying over here. I mean...I—I've been working with you, every night, trying to break through your little closed off shell you have over everyone. I've tried to be patient with you every night, and I know you can still do your work, because when you try you can do it. God—do you not want to get better? I just can't take this anymore. I'm taking my son to my apartment and—"

"NO," she exploded, crossing her arms. "No." Just one simple word, yet it meant so much.

"No? What are you going to do about it?! You don't even hold him; you don't even _look_ at him! Imagine that. Not even paying attention to your son. It's...it's too much for me to take. I can't do this."

"Get out, then," she said. "Get out, you bastard!" she yelled, and Ricky was surprised by her words. "You freaking son of a—"

"Amy!" he yelled at her. "Look at you! You're being ridiculous! You're making me crazy! I am John's father, I take care of him, and he can't grow up like this! I don't want him exposed to all of this. I don't want to be exposed to it." He was crying now as he shouted at her. With tears in his eyes, he stared at her as he awaited her mysterious response.

"What are you even doing over here? If...if you don't care. Why are you here?"

"For John," he answered. "And I wanted to be here for you. But you're changing my mind really quick—"

"I don't even _know _you! I don't know any of you and you all act like I should, but I don't! As a matter of a fact," she murmured bitterly, "I hate you. Jerk. I hate you. I hate you! I hate you so much! I hate this stupid room and this stupid house! I want _out!_"

_I want out._ The words echoed through Ricky's mind.

Amy bawled, grabbing a pillow and wrapping it in front of her chest, her arms grabbing hold of it as she rocked back and forth while she cried. And Ricky fled. He shut the door, making his way out of the house, where he walked to the porch and sunk down on the concrete.

He knew he couldn't take John. He emotionally could not bring himself to do that. It was wrong, and it would upset Amy. She felt drawn to her son, though she didn't know who he was, though she was scared of him.

Ricky wanted to beat the hell out of someone; his father—Ben, even. Ben for going to Italy in the first place. Ben for giving Amy a reason to think he would cheat on her. Ben for actually cheating on her once he did get to Italy.

But violence wasn't going to help anything, and Ricky knew that.

He stood up and walked down the pathway, making his way onto the road and just pointlessly walking wherever he came across. Outside he saw kids playing, despite the later hour, and it saddened him. He came across a small lake not ten yards from the house, and he stood beside it, staring out at the water.

He knew he should get back, because running away and giving up trying to teach Amy to be better or happier was pointless. But before he had the chance to walk back, he heard footsteps, and he turned around to face Amy.

The moon was above the lake full and bright but Ricky saw little hope.

Amy said nothing but simply closed the small distance between them and wrapped her arms desperately and yearningly around Ricky's neck. But she said nothing, still.

Ricky put his hands around her waist, grabbing her, thinking his fights and yelling had finally broken through to her. He believed through that hug that she had finally given up and accepted the facts. Ricky believed that all the anger he had shown to Amy had not been for no reason.

Because it helped her get past her anger through his.

Through the tense nights working on homework, through the attempts to sparking memories, Amy had finally given up, and Ricky sensed this because it was the first real time she had willingly shown affection towards someone.

"Don't do it," she cried—her voice sounded animal-like, almost, as she cried and whined. "D—Don't...take the baby away. I'll be better. I will...I'll be better."

"I won't take him away," he promised. He released his arms, seeing this lost and confused Amy, and he turned back around to walk toward the house, ready to get Amy ready for bed. "Let's get back in the house," he said.

"I want out," Amy whispered. Ricky made his way down the path but stopped when he saw Amy stubbornly turning around and standing beside the lake and staring at the moon, her back towards Ricky.

He furrowed his eyebrows as he watched her staring up at the crescent moon. Then, he saw her lightly flinch and then slowly, she turned around to face Ricky, and he saw a glow of the moon in her eyes, the cool wind blowing her hair lightly, and the serene look on her face.

As Ricky had a flashback of the lake where he had rescued Amy from drowning—the last night where Amy had her memories—he knew that at that same time, slowly memories were flooding back to Amy.


	17. Chapter 15: Epilogue

**Epilogue**

Amy continued to stare at him, with her lips slightly parted and the same glowing still in her eyes. At that moment, Amy tried to pull together all the pieces of her life that she'd just now regained. She tried to tag in the last few months into her life as well, knowing that what she had before this was over.

Ricky wondered what she was thinking and if his eyes were just deceiving him, if he had imagined that glow in her eyes. If he had imagined the way she had looked at the moon a few minutes ago. But when she spoke, he could feel the hope in Amy's voice, the fear, and the emotions mutually connected them together.

"Ricky," she whispered finally, pulling her hands together in front of her. He didn't know if what he heard in her voice was sadness or happiness.

Ricky froze as he stared at her from the distance. There were at least ten or fifteen feet between them, and Ricky could almost feel the return of Amy's memories despite the darkness that surrounded them, the moon above the lake providing the only source of light.

Out of so many things Ricky could say, he only spoke a single word, a lump forming in his throat as he said it in a low voice: "Yes?" He swallowed. He could feel the tears buried behind his eyes.

She stepped closer to him, not even pushing the strand of hair out of her face which she used to always do. Ricky wanted to reach out and touch her, to pull the loose hair behind her ear, but he hadn't been used to this Amy, and he didn't know how she would react.

Only a foot apart, Amy pursed her lips for a second before speaking quietly. "The...the doctor...he-he said it would all come back to me suddenly...and—and he was right." She shook her head as if to clear her mind. "I...I remember everything."

"What all do you remember?"

"Everything." She blinked. "Talking to you after Ben broke up with me, booking the flight to Italy, being taken, you rescuing me..." He saw the pain when she said this, but she continued anyway. "Coming back here...I remember kindergarten. I remember the first day of high school, band camp... The night in your apartment. Everything."

He stared at her as she slowly reached out to touch his hand, bringing her hand up to his face, and he just watched her. "You were there in Italy for me, the entire time? I remember...I remember them saying that you were coming to Italy. I remember when they said you were on your way...How-"

"I got your voice mail, Amy. I called you back."

"And you just decided to get on a plane and fly to Bologna?"

"I did. As soon as I heard that, about a half hour later, I called the airport, because all I kept seein' was yours and John's face in my head, knowing that you were in danger...and that you were alone. There was nothing else I could do."

He placed his hand on her neck, slightly lowering it to her shoulder and moving the sleeve to touch her bare skin. Amy stared at the base of his neck, lost in thought.

"Amy?"

She looked up to meet his eyes, blinking back tears. "Give me a minute. I'm just trying to let this all sink in. It's hard to grasp..."

A tear managed to escape, running down her cheek and blending in with the small raindrops that hit her face.

"Everything's going to be okay now," Ricky promised her, feeling the urge to wipe her tears away, but this new Amy he didn't know yet.

Amy tilted her head down, leaning it against Ricky's shirt, two buttons left unbuttoned. He rested his hand on the back of her head, smoothing out her hair. She kept her head low, not looking up at him, and he wondered what was on her mind.

"Let's go back inside," Ricky whispered.

She nodded against his chest, moving away so they could walk back together. Once they reached the house, Ricky pushed open the door, letting Amy go into the kitchen first. She looked around, as if she was soaking in the memories.

Across from Amy stood Ashley in the living room, staring at her and Ricky with her brows furrowed. "What's going on?" Ashley asked.

Ricky said nothing as Amy stared blankly at Ashley, wanting to smile but truly not feeling happy as she remembered what had happened to her. "Ashley," Amy said.

"Are you—"

"I remember," Amy whispered back.

Ashley quickly and loudly called out for her parents, walking to Amy and hugging her, which was not something she normally did. Her parents came into the room, confused.

"What, Ash?" George said, Anne by his side.

"What happened?"

"Amy... she got her memories back," Ashley told them.

Their faces immediately changed, running to Amy and hugging her like that had just gotten their daughter back. It'd been so long.

"I love you guys," Amy said quietly, furtively glancing over at Ricky. "Can I go to sleep, though?"

George nodded. "Of course, Ames."

"I'll see you in the morning," Amy promised.

She hugged her parents and her sister one more time before heading down the hall, knowing that she _would_ see them in the morning. Ricky waited a minute for everyone to depart before he slowly followed Amy down the hall. Ricky went to stand in the doorway of her room as she stood in front of the mirror.

"Can I come in?" he asked.

"Yes," she said quietly. "Shut the door."

He shut the door, walking over to her.

"Of all people," she whispered. "You were the one who came to save me. I can never make that up to you."

He cleared his throat. "Yeah," he said softly. "I think you can make it up to me. But it was something I had to do. Seeing your face broken in my mind, with John, not knowing where you were...it killed me. I didn't think I'd be able to get you out of there, Amy...if I'm being honest."

"I know. When I heard you were coming to Italy, it made me smile, and it was crazy. Even though I didn't believe you would actually be able to find me, it was the only hope I had being there. As time dragged on though, I became less hopeful that you'd find me. But you did," she whispered.

He smiled lightly as she reached for his hand. "I did," he agreed. "It's hard for me to process all of this."

"I know," she mumbled sadly. "I feel like I've just woken up from a dream, but...but it's real. I have these scars to prove it." She took her free hand and used it to move back her hair, exposing her neck and showing him the scars up her arms.

"It hurts...so much...I can't describe what I'm feeling," she whispered.

"I know, Amy. It hurts me too, and I know I can never truly understand what you're going through—"

"But you can, Ricky, that's the point. You're the _only_ person I know that can understand this, that can feel this pain. Because you've been through it."

He swallowed the lump in his throat, shocked that the words he was speaking to Amy were true: "Yes I have been, Amy." He paused. "But not nearly to the extent that you have."

She nodded. "You told me the other night you wanted to forget. Tonight, let's remember. Everything."

He nodded, although he wasn't sure he wanted to remember everything. Amy closed the distance between them, and her hands gripped his belt as she fumbled with it. He knew she still wasn't herself; but somehow he could sense some of her old self.

He tossed his shirt over his head as Amy got the belt off and he led her to the bed, hovering over her and kissing her. Ricky wanted nothing more than to make Amy his forever. He slid his jeans off as Amy undressed, making his way back over to her.

"Amy, I love you," he told her as he met her eyes.

"I love you, Ricky," she said, and he sighed in relief. He moved his lips over to her neck and kissed the scar directly under her jawline. He knew that she would have to live with these scars, but he also realized that they would all have to live with their own scars.

But these scars—the small, deceitful little flaws that they were made up of—underlay the reality of who they'd come to be.


End file.
